Promise Of Path
by yara9292
Summary: After the Uchiha Massacre, Kakashi wants to help Sasuke and takes him under his care. But as Sasuke grew older he become obsessed with revenge. Can Kakashi help him, to choose another way or will he lost Sasuke? Kakashi/ Sasuke Father/son realitonship
1. Chapter 1

**Promise Of Path**

 **Chapter 1: The Promise**

Kakashi could still remember how cold it was on that particular day. He was on his way back from a hard mission with his Anbu team. The entire day was raining and there was no end to it in sight. He could remember how relieved he was as he entered the Anbu central office. The first thing he did was to take a hot shower. The hot water felt so good against his cold skin that he never wanted to come out from his shower. All his team members had already gone home, as he finally finished his shower. He moved into the changing room and sat down to dry his hair. The Anbu central office... was his home. Nothing was left in his life - he had no other purpose in life except to serve his village. And so it was no wonder that he fitted into the shadow perfectly. He did the dirty work for Konoha and he couldn't count how many people or enemies he had killed in his Anbu days but it didn't matter anyway. A job was a job. Kill before you get killed, that was all that matters. If someone saw the things he had seen or did, they would turn out to be just as empty as him. Sometimes he asked himself, if he still had a heart because if it was there, he couldn't feel it anymore. For the sake of Konoha, that was all what mattered.

He dried his hair with a towel when the door of the changing room suddenly opened and a familiar face entered the room.

"Sempai," the boy who entered the room greeted and bowed his head respectfully before him.

He looked at the boy straight in the eyes and a small smile appeared under his mask, as he answered, "How often I have to tell you not to call me Senpai?"

The boy looked back, his black beautiful eyes were unusually emotional. "You'll be always my senpai. You helped me a lot in the last two years."

"Why are you here, it's almost midnight." He asked, not wanting to go deeper into that subject. Honestly, he was definitely the wrong person as a role model or something similar. He advised the boy to take a seat on the chair opposite him.

The boy complied and sat down as he said, "I want to talk to you about something."

He was not surprised by the seriousness in the boy's voice. Itachi Uchiha had always been serious and he was a genius. He was only thirteen years old then but he was more mature than a lot of adults. Sometimes he had wondered if this boy was ever a child before. "What is it, Itachi?"

"Kakashi Sempai," Itachi's black eyes were unfathomable when he looked straight in the other man's eyes. "I'm really thankful that I could work under your command for the last two years. I have never told you this before but after Shisui died... Since that day, I see you as a friend."

Itachi was eleven when he was being placed under Kakashi's team. For two years, the Anbu captain had tried to guide and advise his junior, but Itachi was more capable than anyone he had seen. He would go so far as to say that Itachi was even stronger and smarter than him. It honored him that the teen saw him as a friend, because he felt the same. Even when Kakashi was on good terms with all his subordinates, Itachi was a dear friend to him, maybe even his first friend after all his precious people died.

He smiled under his mask but it was no real smile. He couldn't smile sincerely anymore because he couldn't even feel his heart anymore and in some strange ways, he knew that Itachi's smile was fake too. Maybe as an Anbu, every emotion was fake, because an Anbu was expected to cast aside his emotions in order to fulfill his role as a tool to his village.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Kakashi asked, straight to the point.

"I want to ask you for a favor. That's why I'm here." Itachi said in emotionless tone but his eyes betrayed him. His black eyes glimmered with emotions and Kakashi asked himself what was the real matter of this.

"If it's possible for me to help you, I will." Kakashi said and he meant it.

Itachi gave him a thankful nod. "It's about my brother... I'm worried what will happen to him if I'm no longer around. I'm worried about who will take care of him in that case."

Kakashi was surprised but his face didn't show it. He studied Itachi's expression and he could see so much pain in his eyes. He didn't know what caused Itachi's strange behaviour but he knew Itachi meant every word he said. Maybe he had to go on a dangerous mission and was a bit worried that he could die. But a shinobi put his life on the line in every mission. Itachi was a genius, he could almost fight and win against anyone.

"What's the real matter, Itachi? You're acting strange. Is everything alright?" Kakashi asked. "Do you have a mission? Is this why you're worried?"

Itachi shook his head. "I'm only thinking about Sasuke's future - what will happen to him when I can't look out for him anymore."

Kakashi knew about Itachi's younger brother. Sometimes the Uchiha had talked about the child. He had seen how Itachi smiled when he mentioned his brother, which meant he must've truly loved this child. But now, he couldn't really understand what Itachi wanted to tell him. "Even when you are not around him anymore, I'm sure your parents will take care for him."

"You don't understand, Sempai. I'm worried about what will happen when not only I or my parents but no one else from the Uchiha clan will be there for him." Itachi said in an even tone, but Kakashi noticed the light shaking in his voice.

"Itachi, your clan is really big. Someone will always be there for your brother." Kakashi said. Honestly, he was a little bit confused. He didn't understand what Itachi wanted to tell him with that.

"I mean who would care for Sasuke, if nobody from my clan can be there for him." Itachi said and Kakashi could see that the boy curled his hands into fists, because he was shaken.

"What are you talking about. You see..."

Itachi didn't let him finish. "Sempai, I see you as my friend. You're some of the people whom I would trust with almost everything. As my friend, I want you to promise me to take care of my brother, if nobody else could be there for him anymore."

"I don't understand why you want such a promise from me. You're acting strange. Are you sure that everything is alright?" Kakashi was really confused. He couldn't understand why Itachi asked him for something like that. Sure, he felt honored that Itachi saw him as a friend, deep inside he felt the same but he saw no sense behind Itachi's words.

"I love Sasuke more than anything else in this world... and the thought that, he could be completely alone, if I cannot look out for him anymore..." Itachi sighed. "I can't stand this thought. Please promise me, you will be there for him in that case."

He could see that Itachi meant every word. Something was definitely bothering Itachi, but Kakashi knew better than to ask him about something he didn't want to talk about. It was completely without sense. But he saw himself as Itachi's friend and when he ask him for a favour, Kakashi wanted do it for him and he could tell that Itachi was really serious.

"I don't know why you ask me about something like this and I'm sure the day will never come that your brother has nobody to look out for him." Kakashi said and Itachi wanted to say something but Kakashi interrupted him again. "But I see you as my friend too and I can tell this is important for you, that's why I promise you to look out for your brother."

A small smile appeared on Itachi's lips. "Thank you so much, senpai. I will never forget this."

"Slow down. I don't believe that the day will ever came that I have stand by my words." Kakashi said. He was still confused about Itachi at this moment but he decided not to ask any more questions. He had the feeling that Itachi did not tell him everything but he had learned a long time ago that sometimes it's better not to know everything.

"You never know what will happen in the future, senpai." Itachi said and in his eyes flickered in pain again. "Please never forget your promise."

"I will stand by my word." Kakashi said with a nod.

Itachi bowed his head, before he turned around and without another word, left the room. Kakashi stared at the place where Itachi had sat a moment ago for a long time. He couldn't really understand what the reason was, but Itachi's behaviour was definitely strange. But that being said, Itachi was always strange. He never acted like a thirteen-year-old boy and behind this emotionless face, he seemed to hide a lot of wisdom. He shook his head as he stood up and made his way to the outside. The question why Itachi wanted this promise from him never left his mind.

One week later, Kakashi had the answer. He couldn't believe what had happened. It was definitely one of the darkest days in his life. The entire Uchiha clan was massacred in one night. And Itachi was nowhere to be found. Sure, that boy was often a mystery for Kakashi, but he had never imagined that the boy would kill his whole family!

He still couldn't believe it, as he walked on the eerily quiet streets of the Uchiha district with his Anbu team. Dead bodies and blood were everywhere. Nobody was alive; the great Uchiha clan was wiped out. Kakashi gave the order to look for survivors. They looked inside every house too. But their effort was in vain. Everyone was dead.

Kakashi had seen much death in his life. He had fought in the war and he had killed countless people by himself. But this... This was cruel, too had always felt a special connection to the Uchiha clan, even when most Uchiha had despised and shunned him for his sharingan, which he got from Obito. Even so, he had felt this connection and not every Uchiha had despised him.

But now everyone seemed to be dead. His heart ached painfully in his chest and he realized that he was crying under his Anbu Mask. When was the last time he had cried? He didn't care. This view was definitely too cruel to bear any longer.

"Here's a survivor!" one of his teammates yelled and brought Kakashi out of his thoughts. He went over there instantly and gasped as he saw who the survivor was. Suddenly everything of what Itachi told him a week ago made sense. He looked down at the tiny figure of Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother. The boy seemed to be hurt but his breathing seemed to be strong. Painfully he clenched his fists. It was impossible! The entire clan was dead but this seven-year-old boy was the only survivor from this tragedy, or in better words, from this massacre.

"I'll bring him to the hospital," his teammate said.

"No, I'll bring him there." Kakashi interrupted, kneeled down and scooped the boy in his arms. As he made his way over to the hospital, Itachi's words came back in his mind.

" _Take care of my brother."_

He had given his promise. And even now, he was determined to stand by his word. Not for Itachi, but for the Uchihas. This was the last thing he could do for Obito's family. Sasuke was alone now, exactly like how Kakashi was and he swore to himself that he would be there for this child.

 **A special Thanks to my beta een nihc. She helped me a lot.**

 **And thanks to Pixie07 too, who had the idea to the title ,,Promise of path" :)**

 **Please let me know what you think and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Promise Of Path**

 **Chapter 2: The Decision**

It lasted until the next morning, until the Anbu managed to collect all the dead corpses in the Uchiha district. The now empty streets were still full of blood everywhere and the view was terrible. Normally the Anbu were used to seeing horrible things, death and suffering but this... This was too much even for them.

Kakashi was the one who suffered the most in this regard. His friendship with Obito and the fact that he possessed a sharingan himself made him always feel a special connection to the Uchiha clan. And to see this clan slaughtered in one night hurt him so much, that tears welled up in his eye. He was glad that he wore his Anbu mask, so nobody could tell that he was silently crying. He couldn't remember when was the last time he cried but he was sure that he was not the only one who cried because of this tragedy.

Meanwhile had the Hokage had announced who was responsible for this cruel event. Itachi Uchiha had slaughtered his whole family and left Konoha after that. He was now officially a criminal and a fugitive. Kakashi was so shocked. He thought he knew Itachi and he had seen Itachi as his friend too. Why did Itachi hate his family so much? And why didn't Kakashi noticed anything strange about Itachi before?

After he had brought the last survivor to the hospital, Kakashi went straight back into the Uchiha districtto help. In the hospital, the medics gave Sasuke a lot of strong medicament which would let the child sleep for the next few days. The medics hoped that a lot of rest would be good for the child, because everyone was scared about Sasuke's reaction when the boy was forced to face this cruel reality.

Kakashi didn't have any illusion himself. The boy would never be able to forget what he had seen. A couple days of sleep couldn't change this fact. But nevertheless Kakashi was relieved that Sasuke would stay out of everything for some days. For the village, this was all too fresh and for Kakashi himself, it was pain. He wanted to stand by his word and that meant that he had a lot to organize before Sasuke could leave the hospital. For the very least, Kakashi wanted to make sure that the boy would have a stable home when he got out from the hospital.

He didn't want to care for that little boy, because of Itachi. No, he did it for Sasuke's dead family. He felt he owe it to the fallen Uchiha clan. And he knew by his own experience, how hard it was to grow up alone. He didn't want to put this little boy through all this suffering alone. He had no idea how he should treat a little child and he had no experience with children either. His own life was such a mess, that he never wanted children of his own. After everything that had happened in the past years, he was definitely not fit to be a father. But now, the situation was different. He knew that Sasuke needed someone to look out for him and after everything that happened to Sasuke, he would be the only one who could understand Sasuke's pain.

As his own father ended his life with suicide, his sensei, Minato was there for him and had put Kakashi under his own care. But after his entire team died, Kakashi joined Anbu because there was no one left for him to protect anymore. Kakashi had continued to live, only to protect Konoha. But he lived a life without emotions and sometimes he couldn't feel his heart anymore.

Kakashi didn't want that the little Uchiha boy to live such an empty life, like he did in the past years. But if he was honest, maybe Sasuke already find himself on this path. Sasuke's entire family was slaughtered by his own older brother. Maybe it was impossible that Sasuke could go through that without damage. The boy was only seven years old.

Kakashi worked until the next morning. He didn't sleep at all on this tragic night, as he went straight to the Hokage's office in the early morning. After he entered the office, Kakashi bowed his head with respect. The look from the Hokage was empty and he seemed to be tired. Kakashi noticed that Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to aged overnight after the Uchiha massacre.

"Kakashi..." the Hokage said with an exhausted voice. "I'm very busy right now, so I hope you want to talk about something important."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Kakashi answered. "It's about the boy who survived..."

"Don't bother yourself with that." the Hokage interrupted. "I've made sure that a room is ready for him in the orphanage."

"Orphanage?" Kakashi asked incredulously."With all respect, this boy has seen terrible things. An orphanage is the last place this child needs right now."

"What do you want from me, Kakashi?" the Hokage asked and it was obvious that the old man fought with his composure. "Where else can I place the boy? He is the last Uchiha and I already have enough of this discussion today. Most clan would take him, but it will be only because of the sharingan, because they want such powerful weapon as their own and other people are scared and doesn't want him. So tell me, what's the best for the child?"

"I'll take him." Kakashi said plainly.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard right, Hokage-sama. I'll take him under my care." Kakashi's tone was determined.

The Hokage was silent. He seemed to be contemplating the bold suggestion, but after a while he spoke again. "How old are you?"

"Twenty two."

"Twenty two." the Hokage repeated and began to stand up and walk around in his office. "Exactly. You're too young for such responsibility. Like I said before, this boy is our last Uchiha and we can't afford to make any mistake and lose him."

"What do you mean by 'mistakes'?" Kakashi was furious. He meant everything of what he said. "I want to take care of him and help him to go through everything."

"You're too young for such a responsibility!" The Hokage said with a firm voice. "To take care of a child is more than just to help him to go through the grief. If I put the boy under your care, you'll be responsible for his education and wellbeing for his entire life. You'll be responsible in what person the boy would grow up to be. You will be responsible for everything!"

Kakashi couldn't believe what the Hokage just told him. "And how will he get all this in the orphanage?"

"At least, in the orphanage, there are working professional tutors who can look after him. In case of emergency, I'll be there too. It's very honorable of you that you want to help the Uchiha boy but I don't think that you're fit to take care of such a traumatized child." The tone of the Hokage was final.

But not for Kakashi. The Hokage didn't understood and this made him angry. He came here to find an acceptable solution for Sasuke's future. And what the Hokage had in mind for the young Uchiha was definitely not the best for the child.

"Hokage-sama, you tell me that I'm too young but I know that Iruka Umino had taken up the guardianship for Naruto Uzumaki since the past few weeks. And as far as I know, Iruka is one year younger than me." Kakashi protested and narrowed his eye.

This was true. Naruto had lived in the orphanage up until then (in which the Hokage wanted to send Sasuke too). But the tutors had always ignored and neglected the little blond boy, because he was the Jinchuuriki. That's why Iruka Umino stepped in and took Naruto under his own care. Now Naruto lived with his Academy teacher and this was absolutely the best for the boy.

"You forget that Iruka was already Naruto's academy teacher. He wasn't a stranger to him." The Hokage said and interrupted Kakashi's thoughts. "And not only that, Iruka already has enough experience with children, during his job as a teacher. You're an Anbu for years. I'm really sorry but because of the lost you went through, you're cold emotionally. The child is definitely in the wrong hands if I hand him over to you."

The grey haired Anbu captain took a deep breath before he answered, "It's because of that that I'm able to understand his pain. This is what the boy needs, especially now. Maybe it's true that I'm cold inside because of my past, but if we all want Konoha's last Uchiha to grow up to be a responsible Shinobi, then we should give him as much understanding as possible, as the future will be hard enough for the boy."

Hiruzen studied Kakashi's face with a thoughtful expression. The Anbu captain knew that the Hokage was considering his words, that was why the coming question didn't surprised Kakashi much.

"Why do you want to take Sasuke under your care?" Hiruzen asked. "You didn't know the child until now and you're a complete stranger to him. Is it about Itachi?"

"Yes..." Kakashi admitted honestly. "Last week, Itachi wanted me to promise him that I would care for his brother, if nobody from his clan could be there for the boy anymore. I was surprised but I had given him my word nevertheless. And now... now I know what Itachi had meant...and I still can't believe it..."

"I can't believe it too." the Hokage mumbled to himself and gave Kakashi a sign to continue.

"And now, I can't forgive Itachi because it's too cruel and no reason in this world could give him the right to do this. And it's not because of my promise to Itachi, it's mostly because this child is now alone, exactly like how I used to be."  
Kakashi swallowed hard. It was difficult for him to talk so openly about his feelings but he wanted to prove to the third Hokage that he was serious. He swallowed again, before he continued. "I possess Obito's Sharingan and because of that, I've always feel a connection to the Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha wereObito's family. I know for sure that Obito would have done everything to save his family from such a horrible destiny and now only Sasuke is left. As Obito's friend, I see it as my obligation to take care of that boy. I know Obito would've wanted this, because he left me his Sharingan and his last wish. I couldn't protect Rin, so please let me at least protect Sasuke."

The Hokage seemed impressed by Kakashi's words. But he remained silent and seemed to wait for the Anbu captain to continue.

And so Kakashi did. "I respect you very much, Hokage-sama. But you don't know how it feels like to be completely alone. After my father died, I thought it was meaningless to go forward, but then there were Minato-sensei, Obito and Rin. My Team took the solitude away from me. But after they all died and left me behind... You don't know how it feels. It's a torment every day. If we let Sasuke to be alone now... then this child will bear this feeling every day and he'll break because of that. I know, I can't protect Sasuke from the pain but I can at least protect him from solitude. I can be there for him."

A moment of silence followed. The Hokage looked Kakashi straight in the eye and the old man knew that the Anbu captain meant every word. He thought for a few more minutes until he finally spoke. "I must say you have a point. In this case, I'll allow you to take Sasuke under your care. But you're an Anbu and you have no time for a child..."

"I've already thought about that." Kakashi interrupted. "I want to request to leave the Anbu and from now onwards, I want to work only as a normal Jonin. So that it'll be possible for me to stay as much as possible inside the village."

"I see, you are really serious." The Hokage said. "Then I'll give you the rank as a Jonin sensei. This is the only post which allows you to stay mostly inside the village and only go on short missions outside."

"Jonin Sensei?" Kakashi repeated in disbelief. He noticed that the Hokage wanted to test him. If he meant his decision was serious, he shouldn't have any problems with this job. Nevertheless... "Do you honestly believe I'm fit for the role as a teacher?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. "You told me you see yourself fit to care for a seven-year-old little child, than three teenagers shouldn't really be a problem for you."

"But.."

"Don't argue with me, Kakashi." the old man interrupted. "This is the only job which let you stay inside the village most of the time. You'll have to train your team and in the beginning, they'll only take D rank missions. You will still need to go on A rank missions, if we need your skills. What else can I offer you?"

The young man thought about it. He was skeptical, but the Hokage was right. If he really wanted to care for Sasuke, then he couldn't go for missions outside the village all the time. "You're right and I agree with you. May I ask what do you think now about my request?"

The Hokage smiled again. "I guess we should try it out. I'll give you the permission to take Sasuke under your care. From now onwards, you'll be his official guardian."

"Hokage-sama, this is..."

Hiruzen interrupted his now former Anbu captain again. "I still want to tell you something. I hope you're aware of this huge responsibility. Everything about Sasuke from now onwards will be your concern. You are responsible for his future and never forget that he is our last Uchiha and he is a great asset to Konoha. I trust that you'll take good care of him."

"I give you my word, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said.

The Hokage went to the window and looked out. "After everything that happened, I feel responsible for the boy too. I owe it to his family to protect the child."

Kakashi felt the awkwardness in the room. "It was not your fault, Hokage-sama."

"Who knows?" the Hokage mumbled and shook his head, before he turned around and looked at the younger man. "Please speak with my secretary. He will give you the documents to file for legal guardianship and you should start looking for a new apartment. Your room is too small for both of you. Be prepared, when the boy is allowed to leave the hospital, everything should be in place."

"Thank you very much." Kakashi said and bowed his head, before he turned around and left the room.

"Kakashi, this will not be easy." the Hokage called after him.

The newly appointed Jonin nodded and closed the door. He already knew that he had taken a difficult task. But if he could help Sasuke to aim for a better future, then everything would be worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Promise Of Path**

 **Chapter 3: Grief**

It had been a week since the horrible massacre happened and Kakashi had done everything he could to prepare for the day when Sasuke was finally allowed to leave the hospital. He moved into a new apartment and he was busy with packing Sasuke's things in the Uchiha district. At first he thought it would be best to take all Sasuke's belongings to the new apartment, to make it easier for the boy to settle down in the new environment. But Kurenai, who had helped him with everything, was against it. She told him that everything would be hard enough for Sasuke and the boy didn't need anything which would remind him of his past. And so Kurenai decided to take care of Sasuke's new room by herself. And she did a fine job. She painted the walls in a bright blue and she had bought a lot of new clothes, toys and furniture. The new room had nothing to do with Sasuke's old home and Kakashi asked himself if this would be really a good idea. But Kurenai explained that she knew better than him. Kakashi had no experience with children, so he ignored his own doubts and decided to trust Kurenai. Anyway the room looked welcoming and every child would like it for sure.

The Hokake had informed him that he would, sooner or later, destroy the now empty Uchiha district, so that the place could be used other purpose. For Kakashi that sounded cruel, especially since the massacre only happened a week ago. But in the end, the Hokage was right. The Uchiha clan was dead. It was senseless that an Uchiha district existed when no one occupied it but the Hokage had given him his word that this wouldn't happen so soon, for Sasuke's sake. Besides, Kakashi wanted to clear Sasuke's old house before this would happen because he wanted to save the belongings of the boy's parents for later, when the boy grew older.

For the time being, Kakashi stood outside Sasuke's hospital room and waited. He was nervous because that day was the day he would take the child with him. He didn't know how he would handle the situation; he only knew that waiting would bring him nowhere. So he took a deep breath before he knocked on the door and entered the room.

He had visited Sasuke only once in the past week but the boy was sleeping then. Now the boy was awake and Kakashi was allowed to take the boy home, their new home, which both of them would share from now onwards.

As the Jonin stepped into the room, he looked at the little boy with concern. Sasuke was sitting on the bed and he was staring at something or nothing straight ahead. His eyes were wide open but the boy gave no indication that he noticed Kakashi's presence at all. The boy didn't blinked, he only stared and Kakashi knew at once that the child was still under shock.

Carefully, Kakashi stepped near to the bed. Sasuke didn't move or make any sign that he had noticed Kakashi, it was obvious that the child was still trapped in his own world. Kakashi would rather not think about everything the boy had seen a week ago. It was no wonder that Sasuke was traumatized.

He wanted to show Sasuke that he was there without frightening the boy and so he sat down carefully on the edge of the hospital bed. Sasuke stayed in the same position, he didn't take notice of Kakashi and so, the Jonin decided it would be best to talk to the boy. Maybe this would help to get Sasuke's attention. Besides, the boy should know what would happen from now onwards.

"Hello, Sasuke. My name is Kakashi Hatake and I'll be your guardian from now onwards. I'm here to take you home with me. You can leave the hospital now."

No reaction. Kakashi didn't know if the little one had understood him. It seemed the boy didn't even noticed his presence. The child seemed to be in trance.

Kakashi wanted to try it again. This time he grabbed the bag of fresh clothes, which he brought with him. He pulled some clothes out and placed them on Sasuke's lap.

"Sasuke, you need to change your clothes, so that we can leave." Kakashi said and he tried his best to sound soft and understanding.

But the child didn't show any reaction. And Kakashi grew worried. He knew this would be difficult but nevertheless... He was unsure how to continue and how he could get Sasuke's attention. Out of reflex, Kakashi placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder but the boy shrugged away instantly and he looked at Kakashi for the first time directly in the eye. Sasuke's look was pure panic and the Jonin cursed himself for that. His older brother had killed his own family and it was only natural that the child couldn't trust him so simply.

Kakashi pulled back his hand. He wanted to show Sasuke that he wouldn't harm the boy in any way. Sasuke stared at him with wide black eyes and it was obvious that the boy didn't understand anything.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." Kakashi said. "Please believe me when I tell you that I'll never hurt you. I'm here to protect and care for you... I know I'm still a stranger for you but this will change..."

Sasuke didn't answer. He kept looking at the Jonin with horror in his eyes. Kakashi didn't know what he could still tell the boy, and so he sighed and pointed to the clothes in Sasuke's lap. "I know you're scared and this is natural but you need to get dressed so that we can leave now."

To his surprise, Sasuke looked down to the clothes. It seemed that the boy had finally understood what he was talking about. Without another word, Sasuke began to change his hospital dress into his new clothes. Kakashi took some steps back. He wanted to give the child some space. But after Sasuke was finished, the boy looked with widened eyes into emptiness again. Kakashi didn't know how to handle this situation. He already knew that the child didn't want to be touched by him but he saw no other solution. And so he grabbed Sasuke's hand and pulled the boy gentle to his feet. Sasuke went stiff immediately. But Kakashi did not let go and the boy made no protest and followed Kakashi outside.

The way to their apartment was uncomfortable. People were staring and talking about the boy; some people even looked out from the window and pointed at Sasuke. Kakashi felt a cold fury inside. This child had lost his entire family a week ago and these stupid people had nothing better to do than to observe the child like some exotic animal in a zoo. How could anyone be so insensitive?

He held Sasuke's hand firmly in his own the entire way. The boy followed him mechanically but he could feel how uncomfortable the boy was. But Kakashi didn't let go of Sasuke's hand, because he knew if he did, Sasuke would not continue to follow him. This entire situation seemed too much for Sasuke to bear. But Kakashi had already expected this.

Kakashi was glad when they finally arrived at their new home. The young Uchiha didn't say anything as Kakashi led him inside the apartment. He let go of Sasuke's hand but the child didn't respond to anything. He stood numbly and didn't move, he only stared into emptiness. The silver haired shinobi was unsure of how to handle the situation again. He sighed mentally as he decided it would be best to show Sasuke his new room first. He grabbed the boy's hand again and led him into his new room.

"This will be your new room. I hope you like it." Kakashi regretted his words at once. How could he be so thoughtless? It was clear that the boy only wanted to be home, home to his parents whom weren't there anymore.

Sasuke said nothing. But Kakashi observed the boy's face carefully and he could see some changes in Sasuke's features. It was obvious that the boy was scared. He could see that the Uchiha boy was scared about a life without his mother and father. Kakashi could understand this feeling very well, he felt the same as his father died when he was a child.

"Do you want to look around for a while?" Kakashi asked because he thought that maybe Sasuke wanted to be left alone for a moment. He was surprised when the boy nodded because he didn't expected an answer. He hesitated before he left the room and closed the door behind him.

The Jonin was worried. In two days time, there would be a funeral of the Uchiha clan and of course Sasuke would participate and pay his family his last respect. But Kakashi really didn't know how the little boy would go through this. He noticed that Sasuke was still under shock and he wasn´t sure whether the funeral would improve his condition or it would make everything worse for the child. It was normal that the little one would fight him with everything and he had known that nothing would be easy with such a traumatized child, but what worried him was that the boy didn't grieve. The boy didn't cry or yell to let the pain out. No, the boy was quiet and his black eyes were empty. If Sasuke cried, Kakashi could at least try to comfort him. He could show the boy that he was not alone and that he would be there for him although honestly, Kakashi didn't know how to handle the situation.

He knew by his own experience that it was sometimes better to let the pain out or else everything could get worse. Sasuke was a little child, he needed to grieve or else the boy would break. Maybe the funeral would help Sasuke to grieve.

He went to the kitchen and looked into the fridge. He had bought every possible food because he didn't know what Sasuke would like to eat. Kakashi wasn't a good cook and he had to admit to himself that this would surely be something that Sasuke would miss his mother for. He had to admit that of course everything would remind the boy of his dead family and he asked himself if this hole could be filled again, he doubted it.

The doctors in the hospital had told him that while the boy was sleeping, he was supplied with fluid nourishment but now the boy would have to eat on his own again. Kakashi guessed that the boy wouldn't have any appetite and the doctors thought the same. Because of that, they gave Kakashi some food pills and some sleeping pills too. But they told Kakashi that this was only a temporary solution. The jonin was aware of that, because he had no intention to fill his cabinet with medication and food pills.

He decided to cook some Miso soup. It was a simple recipe and one of the few recipes he could prepare. Plus almost everyone he knew ate Miso soup, so he hoped that Sasuke wouldn't have something against it.

The young adult hurried to finish with the preparation of the food. He was nervous and he didn't want to leave Sasuke too long out of his sight. After he was finished, Kakashi filled a bowl with soup and placed the bowl together with a cup of water on a tray. He wasn't hungry and so he hurried over to Sasuke's room with the tray in his hands. Carefully, he went inside the room.

Sasuke sat on the bed, his knees were pulled to his chest and his arms were wrapped around them. His eyes stared into emptiness again and Kakashi tried to calm himself with the thought that the child needed a lot of time. He stepped towards the bed and placed the tray on the little table next to the bed.

"I've made you something to eat." Kakashi informed the boy. "I know you're not hungry but you should eat nevertheless."

No answer, no reaction. Sasuke stayed in his position and he didn't seem to notice Kakashi's presence.

Feeling helpless, the jonin tried to find a way to make the child eat something or to get Sasuke out of this trauma but he couldn't find any solution. He knew how overwhelmed this pain must be for the boy and because Sasuke was still so young, it was a lot worse for the child. Maybe the boy didn't really understand everything now. Kakashi wanted to do something, he wanted to comfort the boy but after everything the boy went through... Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder again but the boy curled up and went stiff immediately and Kakashi could see the panic and fear in the boy's black eyes. The jonin pulled his hand away and took a step back, but Sasuke stayed stiff and looked at the man with fear in his eyes.

Sasuke didn't trust Kakashi but this was no wonder. He was a stranger to the boy and after everything Itachi had done... Maybe Sasuke would never trust people again. But Kakashi didn't want this for Sasuke. He wanted to win the boy's trust and he wanted a future for the boy. The boy should grow up like any other children too. It was still too early and he must accept this. The Jonin was sure that someday Sasuke would trust him. It was only a matter of time.

But for now, the boy needed to eat, otherwise Kakashi didn't know how the child could endure the coming days.

"Sasuke," He tried to sound soft and understanding. "you need to eat or you will get sick. Your body needs energy."

No answer. Sasuke's eyes were back to empty again.

 _He needs only time._ Kakashi thought and tried to calm himself with this thought. Maybe he should leave the boy alone again. Maybe he needed some more privacy.

"I'll leave you alone for now. If you need something, call me, I'll be in the living room." After that, the jonin left the room again.

He left the boy by himself for hours and when Kakashi looked for Sasuke again, it was already late evening. After he went inside the room, he noticed painfully that the child hadn't moved. Sasuke was still in the same position he was hours ago.

Kakashi was worried because until now Sasuke hadn't shed a single tear. The tray of food remained untouched on the table. He didn't even drink a sip of water. The Jonin knew that Sasuke needed energy because the coming funeral would be very hard for the child but on the other hand, Kakashi hoped that this tragic event could help Sasuke to eventually grieve. And so Kakashi decided to wait that evening and hoped that maybe Sasuke would fall asleep alone because the boy was exhausted.

But he was wrong. After a long night, he went to have a look on Sasuke in the next morning. He was shocked to see that Sasuke was still in the same position he left him yesterday. It was obvious that the boy hadn't slept the entire night and his condition worried Kakashi. The next day would be the burial of the Uchiha clan and it was impossible that Sasuke could go through this in his current condition.

He needed to make the child eat and drink something and maybe he should give him a sleeping pill too, because it was important that Sasuke was well rested for the next day. But when he looked at the boy, he already knew that talking wouldn't bring him anywhere, because the little one was still too traumatized.

Kakashi wasn't very proud of what he did next, but he didn't know what else he could do. Sasuke was so in trance that he didn't noticed how Kakashi formed some hand seals. Kakashi cast a harmless genjutsu on Sasuke almost at once. He made Sasuke swallowed two food pills and drank some water and after that, he let the boy swallow a sleeping pill too.

Kakashi knew he should find another solution but Sasuke needed rest. He let Sasuke go from the Genjutsu and the boy immediately fell into a deep sleep. The young man lied the boy down and tucked him in carefully. The sleeping pills would make sure that the boy could sleep without interruptions.

The Genjutsu was a simple and harmless genjutsu and Kakashi didn't need his sharingan for that. But he wouldn't show Sasuke his sharingan. Not now. Maybe in the future when Sasuke would trust him. The sharingan was a too delicate topic and Kakashi wanted to avoid everything that could scare or harm Sasuke and the boy was too young to understand something like this.

And as he looked at Sasuke's sleeping face, Kakashi realized what a heavy burden he would shoulder from now onwards. To care for a young child... He knew it would be hard but he was still determined to do it. Maybe his sharingan was the reason why he felt so connected to the Uchiha but no matter what, he wanted to take this responsibility and care for this poor boy.

Sasuke slept almost until the morning of the funeral. Kakashi already wore his mourning clothes and he had already placed Sasuke's black clothes on the boy's bed. He sat on Sasuke's bed as the boy woke up and he tried to be as gentle as possible when he explained what day that day was. That day was the funeral of Sasuke's family and that the boy needed to say good bye. Sasuke's look was empty but the boy nodded to show that he understood. Kakashi showed him the bathroom and Sasuke grabbed his mourning clothes so tight as he went inside the bathroom that it was obvious that Sasuke was overtaxed.

After ten minutes, the boy came out from the bathroom in his complete black clothes and Kakashi thought that such a young child shouldn't wear something like this. Sasuke had slept enough but it did nothing for the child. Kakashi could see that Sasuke still wasn't well – in fact, he was struggling to stay on his feet.

The Jonin offered Sasuke something to eat but the boy merely shook his head. Kakashi had already expected this and it was fine. Who would eat on such a day? At least Sasuke reacted to his questions now, even when he didn't talk to him.

But what was most important at the moment was to help the boy through this terrible day. The entire village would be there and everyone wanted to have a look on the _last Uchiha._

Already on their way to the cemetery, Kakashi could hear the whispers.

 _"This is the last survivour."_

 _"But he is still so young..."_

 _"What if the boy goes insane like his brother?"_

 _"Why is the boy placed into the care of this man? Doesn't he need a stable family?"_

 _"I don´t know..."_

 _"Look he is so pale, he doesn´t look healthy."_

 _"Maybe it would be better if he died together with his clan..."_

Kakashi tried to ignore those people. It troubled him that the villagers were so tactless to talk in such a way in front of Sasuke. This people had no idea how painful everything was. Kakashi held Sasuke's hand for the entire journey, he had the feeling that the boy would stop if he would let go of his hand.

The people all wore black to attend the funeral. It was as if the whole population of the village was there. Kakashi knew a lot people and they greeted him politely but he only acknowledged them with anod. He noticed how Sasuke's body went more and more stiff. The Hokage waited for them at the entrance of the cemetery. Hiruzen Sarutobi bent down to his knees and placed his hand on Sasuke's head, which he pulled he back at once after Sasuke visibly flinched at his touch.

Nevertheless the Hokage tried to smile as he spoke to Sasuke, "I know today is a hard day for you, my boy. But I want to tell you that we're all grieving with you. I'm sorry for your loss."

No answer and no reaction. The Hokage stood up again and gave Kakashi a worried look. He nodded, because the Jonin knew that the Hokage was worried about Sasuke's behaviour too. Hiruzen Sarutobi advised them to follow him and Kakashi noticed that Sasuke's steps became slower. He and Sasuke stood in the first row. Kakashi observed the pictures of the dead clan members in front of them. It was a tradition that everyone would place a lily in front of the picture of the deceased in memory of them. Kakashi took the flowers and and explained to Sasuke what he must do. Sasuke nodded but he said nothing.

The Hokage gave a speech and opened the ceremony with that. He was also the first person who went and placed a flower for each and every deceased Uchiha clan member. After the Hokage finished, it was Sasuke's turn because he was the only surviving member of the dead clan. Sasuke's eyes were hid behind his bangs and the boy placed his lilies before every picture emotionlessly like a robot. Kakashi saw that the child didn't even looked at the photos as if he wished he could be somewhere else but here. As Sasuke was halfway through, he suddenly stopped in his track and didn't move. For the first time, Sasuke looked up and he stared at the pictures before him.

Kakashi took a deep breath.

It was the photo of Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha. Sasuke's parents. He looked at Sasuke and it was the first time he saw tears streaming down the boy's cheeks. The boy began sobbing, his grip on the flowers loosened and he let the flowers fall to the ground. It took Kakashi a moment before he realized that Sasuke was running away. The Jonin ran after the crying child who disappeared into the mass of people. It was difficult for Kakashi to wiggle his way out from the cemetery because it was so congested. And as an adult, it was more difficult to make his way through as compared to a child. He tried to block out the whispers from the people as he followed Sasuke and left the cemetery.

The boy was running and Kakashi wanted to call out for him when Sasuke suddenly fell. The boy fell pitched forward into the dirt and Kakashi hurried to his side worriedly, when he realized that Sasuke didn't pick himself up.

First he thought that the child was hurt but then when he kneeled down on Sasuke's side, he noticed that the boy was crying. It hurt Kakashi to see the boy in pain. He placed his hand on Sasuke's back gently, before he pulled the boy to his feet again. Sasuke was trembling and sobbing and it began to rain suddenly too.

"We'll go home now. We'll go to the cemetery later, when you're ready."

He wasn't sure if Sasuke had understood him or not but he wanted to say it nevertheless. The child wasn't ready to say good bye yet. It seemed that Sasuke had finally realized that his parents were gone forever. He wouldn't bring Sasuke back to the cemetery yet and he was sure the Hokage would understand this.

The boy was crying and his body heaved with sobs. The silver haired man felt a stinging pain in his chest. He understood Sasuke's pain well because it was familiar to him. He knew that Sasuke needed to cry now and because of that he said nothing. He said no more word as he scooped Sasuke up in his arm. Sasuke made no protest; he only cried as Kakashi tried to shield the boy from the rain and carried him back home.


	4. Chapter 4

**A long way to go**

When Kakashi brought Sasuke home, the boy has been crying for hours and Kakashi thought the child would never stop. The whole time, Kakashi had sat by Sasuke´s side and tried to comfort the child. He had stroked Sasuke´s back the whole time in a calming and comforting manner. He knew that Sasuke was tensed against him but in this moment, the boy didn´t care. The little Uchiha was grieving and this feeling was so overwhelming that he didn´t care about Kakashi´s presence.

The Jonin had hoped that Sasuke would fall asleep from exhaustion but he was wrong. As the boy finally stopped crying, he sat with his legs pulled to his chest on his bed and he stared into emptiness again. Exactly like the days before. This behaviour worried Kakashi because he didn´t know how he should handle Sasuke then. If the boy was crying, he could comfort him and show him that he was grieving with him together. But even so, Kakashi was really overtaxed.

He knew from his own experience that different ways to grieving existed and that everyone handled the pain different. But he had find out on his own, that it was the best to cry and scream everything out, because sometime you can´t push down the pain anymore. But Kakashi was desperate because he had no idea how he should care for Sasuke, when the boy was in this shock state. The boy needed to eat and to sleep but in this state, Sasuke didn´t care about anything. Kakashi couldn´t agree with his conscience to put Sasuke under another genjutsu and he had to admit that this was not a solution anyway. The boy needed to eat again, but after everything the boy went through, it was no wonder the child was traumatized so much.

Nevertheless... Maybe Kakashi had thought it would be easier. From now on, it was his task to make sure that the child would be alright again. And if the boy wouldn´t eat and sleep right, then the child would be getting sick in no time.

Since Sasuke didn´t reacted to anything Kakashi tried, the Jonin decided it would be best to let the child some privacy. Firstly, he was sure that Sasuke wanted to be left alone for some time and secondly, he had to think carefully how it should continue from now on.

Kakashi sighed and let himself fall onto the couch in the living room. He pulled down his mask and spread his hands over his face. He had not eaten and sleep much himself in the last few days and he noted how worried he already was. The man looked up on the clock. He was surprised that it was already ten o´clock pm. He hadn´t noticed how time passed. It was too late for Sasuke to stay awake, but under the circumstance, it was no wonder if the boy wouldn´t sleep.

But Kakashi remembered that Sasuke hadn´t eaten anything for the whole day and he doubted that the boy had drunk some water either. The jonin ran his fingers through his grey hair. He was worried. And even if the boy totally was not himself in this moment, Kakashi couldn´t tolerate that Sasuke would get sick. And if the boy wouldn´t eat, drink and sleep, this would soon happen for sure. He decided to prepare something to eat for Sasuke, maybe he should try to make the child to eat again.

The Jonin went into the kitchen and cooked some tea, while he prepared some Onigiri. After he was done, he placed the tea cup and the food on a tray and went to Sasuke´s room. Slowly, he opened the door. His eyes widened as he stepped inside the room.

Kakashi thought he had expected everything. That Sasuke would cry or that the boy would be still under shock. But he had never expected what he found. The Jonin almost let go of the tray, because he was so shocked. The room was empty!

The room was empty and the window was open. Sasuke ran away and in this state the boy was...

With shaky hands, Kakashi placed the tray on the table and went to the open window. The apartment was in the second floor and he had to admit that the boy definitely had some great Ninja skills. How else could the boy leave this apartment without Kakashi noticing? But the boy was an Uchiha and it wasn't unusual that a child from this clan showed promising talent in the early years.

But this didn´t matter because Kakashi was really worried where the boy would be in his state. He thought about two places, the Uchiha district or the cemetery. The Jonin decided for the first option, because it seemed to make more sense that Sasuke would run back to his old home than to the cemetery in the darkness. Besides Kakashi knew that Sasuke felt uncomfortable here in this apartment with him - he was after all still a stranger for the boy.

Kakashi didn´t bother to go through the gate. He merely jumped over the fence which was surrounding the now empty Uchiha district. It was raining and it reminded Kakashi painfully of his last talk with Itachi.

As he walked inside the now empty Uchiha district, he had to breathe heavily because he didn´t want to think about all the dead corpses from last week. It was still difficult to believe that the Uchiha clan no longer existed in Konoha but this was the terrible truth. Kakashi could still see blood stains on the streets and he shuddered. Not even the rain could wash away all these blood from the empty streets. This place was now a ghost town. Inwardly Kakashi was angry at himself. How come he never noticed that Sasuke has left the apartment? His mistake was unacceptable - he shouldn´t let Sasuke out of his sight. Not now!

The Jonin knew if Sasuke was here, the boy would be at his old house. He went straight to the big compound which once belonged to the Clan leader and his family. As he arrived, he panted heavily. This was now the worst place for Sasuke and Kakashi should have prevented Sasuke to see this place again. Especially now, when the boy was still traumatized.

The masked man stopped before the biggest house in the district. This used to be Sasuke´s home. The sliding door was open and this was prove that Sasuke must be inside the house. With a heavy feeling in his chest, he entered the house. He was scared in which state he would find the boy.

At first he looked for the boy downstairs, he moved slowly because he didn´t want to frighten the boy.

"Sasuke!" The Jonin called out.

The living room and the kitchen were empty. As he entered the room in which Fugaku and Mikoto were killed, killed by their own son, the jonin could still see the big, dried blood patch on the floor.

He took a deep breath as he quickly left the room and closed the door behind him. He prayed that Sasuke didn´t enter this room. He didn´t want to think about what this would do to the boy, because it was clear that the child wouldn´t be able to forget such image again.

There was no sign of Sasuke downstairs. So Kakashi made his way upstairs. Kakashi continued his way through the long corridor and checked every room that he passed by. Most of them were empty.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi called again.

Then he found Sasuke´s old room. It was obvious that this was the room of a child, with all the toys and childish possession in there. Kakashi´s chest hurt. He would never be able to give Sasuke all these - what his parents gave to him.

He studied the boy´s room carefully, he didn´t want to miss a detail because he realized now what a happy child Sasuke has been, before Itachi had destroyed everything. How could Itachi do this? He still couldn´t believe it sometimes.

He wondered why Sasuke wasn´t in his own room and he grew worried inside. Nevertheless the boy must be here somewhere. He left the boy´s old room and continued his search. As he entered the last door at the end of the corridor, his breathe hitched.

This must be the master bedroom of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. But this wasn´t what shocked him. His visible eye widened as he saw Sasuke sleeping on his parents' bed, with a blanket wrapped around his tiny figure. Kakashi stepped closer and he saw dried tear strains on Sasuke´s face and it was obvious that the boy had cried before he had fallen asleep.

But nevertheless, it pained Kakashi to think that the smell of his parents had calmed Sasuke down. The boy missed them and he searched for the familiar presence of his family. The feeling to be near them helped Sasuke to calm down.

The Jonin doubted that he would be able to fill this hole. The lost of his entire family had destroyed so much for the poor boy. Maybe Sasuke would never be able to be like a normal child again. But at the same time, he didn´t want to doubt, because he had swore to himself that he would be there for the child and since the beginning, he had already known that this wouldn´t be easy. And now, he knew he was everything that was left for the boy and because of that, he had to stay strong. He had to help Sasuke to go forward again and he would stay by Sasuke´s side along the way.

Kakashi bent down and tugged the blanket firmer around Sasuke´s body, before he scooped up the boy carefully in his arms. Sasuke didn´t wake up as the Jonin left the house and the Uchiha district with him. The boy seemed to be so exhausted that he slept very deeply. His body finally took the rest the boy needed and if Sasuke needed the smell of his parents to sleep, Kakashi had no problem to let the boy sleep in their blanket.

Maybe it wasn´t such a good idea to take everything away from his old life. Everything was so new and strange for Sasuke, it made it more difficult for the boy to grieve.

When the Jonin arrived back at their apartment, he placed Sasuke onto the bed at once. Sasuke was still deeply asleep and the silver haired Jonin didn´t left Sasuke´s side, because he had enough surprises that day. He sat on the edge of Sasuke´s bed and stayed there the whole night until Sasuke began to wake up the next forenoon.

The jonin was very tired himself but as he noticed that Sasuke´s eyes began to open, he was full awake at once.

Sasuke blinked. He still wasn´t fully awake yet and Kakashi placed his hand gently on the boy´s shoulder.

"Mama...?" Sasuke mumbled, still with half closed eyes.

Kakashi pulled his hand back, almost automatically. His heart stung after this simple word. He took a deep breath before he answered with a simple "No..."

The black eyes of the boy opened completely as he stared at Kakashi. "It wasn´t a dream, was it?"

This was the first words Sasuke had spoken directly to him but the Jonin couldn´t find any pleasure about that. In contrary, the child had just confronted the cruel reality. It was too much even for the Jonin or ex-Anbu captain. The boy was still so young; he was only seven years old. And if he was honest, if he didn´t know it better, Kakashi would think the boy was even younger than that. Because Sasuke was a small and dainty child, he looked not much older than five years old.

It was some art strange how different the brothers could be. Itachi had always seemed and acted older for his age. Even when he was thirteen, Itachi had looked like sixteen. Kakashi could only hope that the two brothers would have difference in their path too.

And now, there were no right words which he could tell Sasuke. It didn´t matter what he would tell the boy, it would hurt him anyway.

" No, it´s not a dream. I´m so sorry..." What could he tell more? Kakashi had no more words either.

The sadness on the boy´s face hurt Kakashi. It was an expression which a child shouldn´t wear. Sasuke pulled the blanket firmer aroung himself and he looked down.

"Mama and Papa... are they really in the cemetary?" Sasuke asked in a very low voice. "And all the others too?"

Kakashi closed his eye. He didn´t have any idea of the logic of a child and he wanted to tell Sasuke everything as softly as possible. But what should he explain? Sasuke had seen the dead corpses of his family with his own innocent eyes. And now the boy realised that this wasn´t any nightmare or a genjutsu. This was the cruel reality.

"Yes.." This was Kakashi´s only answer.

" And they won´t come back?" Sasuke asked and he could hear the desperation in the boy´s voice.

Kakashi shook his head with a sad expression, even if he knew that Sasuke didn´t see him because the boy avoided looking directly at him. "No, that´s not possible. But..."

The Jonin stopped his speech as he heart a soft sob from Sasuke. After the first sob, many more followed until Sasuke began to cry openly. The little boy hid his face in the covers of his bed and the older man felt helpless. He reminded himself on the promise which he made. That he would be there for the child. He had never comforted any child before and he acted on instinct as he pulled Sasuke up on his small shoulders and pulled the boy into a firm embrace. To his surprise, Sasuke didn´t fight against him. He only cried all his pain out. It was too much pain, too much, even for an adult and definitely too much pain for a child.

In this moment, Kakashi realised that they had still a long way to go.

 **Special Thanks to een nihc, for her great help :)**

 **And a big thanks for the reviews and favourites too, please let me know what you think and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Too Much To Bear**

With a painful feeling in his chest, Kakashi looked at the back of Sasuke who stood before the grave of his parents. He didn´t know exactly what he should do at this moment - should he try to comfort the boy or should he let the child have some privacy.

Kakashi himself had always preferred to be alone when he visited the grave of his father or his teammates, because he had always hated the feeling when someone stood behind his back. He couldn´t let his feelings out this way. He wasn´t a really touchy person, he never was. He had always worn mask before other people.

And now, when he watched the young Sasuke, he was sure that the boy's feeling was similar.  
Sasuke's body was tense and he kept his eyes to the ground. But the Jonin wasn´t sure if it would be a good idea to let Sasuke stay there by himself for a little while. If Kakashi was honest to himself, he was really surprised when Sasuke told him in the morning that he wanted to visit the grave of his parents.

Of course, this was a natural wish but nevertheless the Jonin wasn´t sure if this was a bit early for the boy. Kakashi was a little bit worried but of course, he agreed to accompany him. Maybe this was an important step towards the right direction. Sasuke needed to realize that his family wasn´t there anymore and the boy needed to grieve until he would be ready to begin a new life. Kakashi would be there for him until then but the ex-Anbu captain knew that this would still be a long way ahead. It would take a long time, until Sasuke would be ready to move forward. But he had one condition. They could only go the cemetery if he would eat something. And it didn't matter how sorry the Jonin had felt, Sasuke needed to eat again and it was now his task to make sure that this would happen. He remembered how disgusted Sasuke had looked, as he placed the breakfast before the boy. It was obvious that the child still didn´t want to eat anything.

Kakashi had tried really hard to make the boy eat something but after more than half an hour, he gave in and offered the boy to swallow a food pill at least. He was so glad that Sasuke had made no protest and the boy had swallowed this without any words. But the silver haired Jonin was so worried, because the boy needed to eat properly again and he knew this must happen soon. He hoped that the child´s issues with food were only caused by the traumatic events.

And now, he stood with the boy before the graves from the fallen Uchiha clan. Even now, Kakashi couldn´t believe that the Uchiha clan no longer existed anymore. Only this seven-year-old boy was left behind. The boy would have to shoulder the burden of all hopes and expectations from the village and live up to his clan's name from now onwards. Kakashi could only hope that Sasuke wouldn´t break under this pressure.

He stared at Sasuke again and he noted how difficult it still was to open up in his presence. Of course, the Jonin understood this well, because in the end, he was still a stranger. It was clear that this must be a horrible time for Sasuke for he had lost everything - his family and his home. And his older brother was the person who had taken all these all away from him.

The Copy Ninja sighed deeply as he decided to give Sasuke some space.

"Sasuke..." The Jonin said. "If you want, I can leave you alone for some time."

The young Uchiha didn´t turn around but Kakashi saw that the boy nodded nevertheless.

The Jonin took the first step and added, "And Sasuke... I´ll stay nearby. If there is anything, you can call me."

The boy gave no reaction to this offer and the Jonin was hesitant before he sighed again and went away slowly. Kakashi didn´t went far; he went straight to Obito´s grave. The grave of his old teammate was on the last row. He had never thought that someday, Obito´s entire clan would end up here at the same time.

With a depressed face, Kakashi stared at the stone where Obito´s name was engraved. He missed his team with all his heart and even after all these years, he still felt the overwhelming pain of their lost. The Jonin was aware that Sasuke might never get over this. Maybe it would be impossible. But nevertheless, he wanted a future that Sasuke would look forward to for the boy and Kakashi would do everything he could to help him. He knew they could make it.

And as he stood directly before Obito´s grave, he asked himself what had his friend done, if he was in Kakashi´s shoes. He was sure that his dead friend would be the first person who would place Sasuke under his care. But how exactly would Obito handle this? He and Obito were always so different. While he tried to hide all his emotions deep inside, Obito used to show his like an open book. Kakashi was sure that children would prefer Obito over him. And maybe Sasuke would too. And maybe this would be easier for Obito, because the Uchiha was his own family too. But Kakashi drove this thought away, fast. Obito was dead and so there was no need to think about that. He wasn´t that type of man who allows himself to dream and close his eyes from the reality. No, his eyes were always wide open. This wasn´t Obito´s or someone else task. No, this was now his task. He realized that he had underestimated the responsibility to take care of such a traumatized child. He didn´t regret it, not even a second. He wanted to help Sasuke with all his heart and he would help him. But it would be very difficult.

Nevertheless, he was the best of what the boy could get after the massacre. Nobody else could understand Sasuke´s pain like he did and so it was definitely best that the boy was placed under his own care. Kakashi had always felt a strong connection to the Uchiha Clan. He had known a lot of Uchihas. Even if some from the clan had despised him because of his Sharingan, he still had a lot of Uchiha whom he could trust and Uchiha who always treated him fairly and with respect. That´s why he was grieving inside for Sasuke´s family too.

"Obito..." Kakashi closed his eye as he remembered his dead friend. "Do you think I´ll make it? You used to be always so optimistic and you never gave up. I´m sure you wouldn´t do this now. Sometimes I wish that I could be more like you. You were always stronger between the two of us and I wish that I had realized this earlier. Maybe then, we would be still be together. Forgive me, Obito."

He let out a dry laugh. "If you could be here now, you would make fun of me, right? I´ve already asked you for forgiveness countless times. And now I want to ask you for forgiveness, because I couldn´t prevent what happened to your family. I don´t want to make any promises which I can´t keep anymore, but I´ll try my best to be there for Sasuke. I can´t fail him, no matter what."

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he heard a loud thunder. He opened his eye again and as he looked up, he saw dark clouds in the sky and it began to rain slowly. The wind was howling and it was cold.

"What is wrong with this weather?" The Jonin mumbled to himself, because almost every day in the past weeks had rained.

He gave Obito´s grave one last look before he turned around and made his way back to Sasuke. He needed to bring the boy back home. He didn´t want to be outdoors if a thunderstorm would come. Besides, he couldn´t risk Sasuke catching a cold. He hurried back to Sasuke and as the boy was in sight, Kakashi saw that he didn´t move from the spot where Kakashi had left him.

The boy stared down at the grave of his parents. It looked like Sasuke still couldn´t believe that they were dead. Even if the boy had cried the day before and Sasuke knew the truth but nevertheless... How could a seven-year-old child accept this truth?

Kakashi felt sorry that he had to interrupt Sasuke but the weather seemed to get worse and they needed to get home. It was impossible to stay outdoors any longer.

"Sasuke." The Jonin said as he approached the boy. "We need to go. It's raining."

Sasuke turned around and looked up at Kakashi first, then to the sky. It seemed the boy hadn´t realized until now that a thunderstorm was coming.

"We can come back here tomorrow, if you want." Kakashi offered.

The little Uchiha seemed to think about it for a moment, before he looked down so that his bangs hid his eyes from view. "Maybe... I don´t know yet..."

Sasuke´s voice was low and it was obvious that he still wasn´t sure what he should think about Kakashi.

"Maybe the weather will be better then." Kakashi said, because he wasn´t sure what else he could say.

"I don´t care if it´s raining or not." Sasuke said and Kakashi wasn´t sure what exactly the boy meant.

Anyway, he was glad that the boy went home with him without any problems. But Kakashi noticed how the boy's shoulders tensed and how he walked a couple of steps behind him, only to avoid getting too close to him. The Jonin couldn´t blame him for that. It must be difficult for Sasuke to live with a strange man now, without his parents or any other family members.

As they arrived at the apartment, Sasuke went straight to his new room and closed the door behind. Kakashi sighed deeply. He hoped that Sasuke would soon begin to trust him and open up to him. He wanted only the best for the child and he hoped that Sasuke would someday see that too.

Kakashi could hear the loud thunder as he went into the kitchen. He pulled down his mask and drank a glass of water. After he finished, he put the empty glass in the sink and decided it would be best to check if the windows were all close. Especially because he wanted to make sure that Sasuke wouldn´t leave the apartment for a second time without his knowledge.

Of course, he wanted to give the boy enough space, but the ex-Anbu captain found it important to observe whether the boy would be alright. He knocked on Sasukes´s door but no answer came from inside, and so Kakashi entered. The Jonin had expected that Sasuke would sit on his bed again with empty eyes or that the boy would be crying. But he was surprised as he saw that Sasuke curled up on his bed, sleeping.

Kakashi couldn´t help but a small smile appeared under his mask. For the first time, he noticed what a sweet child the little Uchiha was. Sasuke´s sleeping face looked so peaceful and the Jonin hoped that the boy would sleep without any interruptions. The boy needed rest. Kakashi pulled the blankets over Sasuke´s tiny body. These were the blankets from his parents and maybe this would help the boy to sleep too.

He was quiet as he left the room and closed the door behind him. Kakashi went to the living room and sat down on the couch tiredly. He hadn´t had a moment of rest for himself in the past week. He closed his eye as his thoughts drifted to his dead loved ones again. He had lost all the people whom he once loved. First his father, then Obito. And he couldn´t even protect Rin. And his Sensei too.

As a child, Kakashi had despised his father for his suicide. He had left Kakashi alone at the age of eight and it was such a hard time for him. This had changed him forever. Minato had watched out for him at that time and he understood now how much he owed his sensei for that. Then Obito and Rin came into his life and he had a new family, only to lost them again and be left alone in this harsh world.

And now there was little Sasuke. The boy had lost everything in his short life. Maybe the boy had witnessed the massacre of his family too. Kakashi wasn´t sure yet what Sasuke saw that night but the fact was he had witnessed something. And this had traumatized the child badly. Kakashi hoped that someday, Sasuke would trust him enough to open up to him and tell him about everything he went through.

He knew Sasuke for not long but it was clear that the pain of losing loved ones connected them even if the boy couldn´t see it this way. The boy was way too young to understand such things. But Kakashi had the feeling that sooner or later, he and Sasuke would share a strong bond with each other.

Deep in thoughts, the Jonin was so exhausted himself that he fell asleep on the couch too. He didn´t know how long he had slept when a loud scream suddenly broke the silence in the apartment and Kakashi woke up at once. He sprang to his feet and stormed into Sasuke´s room as he realized that the scream came from there.

Sasuke sat straight on his bed and panted heavily. His face was covered with sweat and his eyes were wide. It was obvious for Kakashi that the boy had a nightmare. He was careful in his movements as he approached the boy. He didn´t want to frighten Sasuke any further. He was sure he knew what Sasuke had dreamed and he cursed Itachi inside his head for the hundred times since the massacre. As he observed Sasuke, he noted that the boy was still under shock. Sasuke mumbled something and Kakashi had to bent near to the boy to hear him.

"Why did you..." Sasuke breathed heavily. "Why did you kill Mama and Papa..."

Sasuke repeated the same words over and over again. He was in trance. Kakashi knew he had to wake the boy up from this. It pained him very much to see the boy in such a state. The Jonin placed his hands on Sasuke´s shoulders and the boy almost went stiff at once. Sasuke´s black eyes were wide in fear as he looked at Kakashi´s face. Sasuke had a nightmare but the Copy Ninja knew that only the memories was haunting the boy, the memories of that terrible night. He couldn´t take this away from Sasuke, as much as he wished he could. This was only natural after what happened and Sasuke must go through this. But nevertheless, the Jonin wished he could do more for the child.

"You´ve only a bad dream..." Kakashi said in a soft tone.

The boy said nothing to Kakashi as he looked at his new guardian with teary eyes. Sasuke pulled himself free from Kakashi´s soft grip on his shoulders and turned himself on the side, so that Kakashi faced his back. The child curled his body like a ball and the view of him was heartbreaking, because it was obvious that this boy suffered horribly.

Kakashi knew Sasuke didn´t want to talk to him right now but he wanted to stay with the child. He wanted to give Sasuke the feeling that he wasn´t alone, no matter what happened. The Jonin grabbed the blanket and pulled it carefully over Sasuke´s body. The little boy gave no reaction but the man had already expected this. He sat down on the edge of the bed, determined to stay there for the rest of the night.

"Do you know, even if you can´t imagine this now, someday it´ll be get better..." Kakashi said carefully. "Someday, the pain will be less even if the pain will never disappear completely. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about..."

He didn´t get any response. It was quiet in the room and the only thing he heard was Sasuke´s quiet sobs.

"When?" Sasuke suddenly asked with a shaking voice.

"I don´t know, Sasuke." Kakashi answered honestly. "But I know someday it´ll. I promise."

Was he a liar? Or was he only optimistic for the future? Kakashi didn´t knew. He only knew that he wanted to do everything for Sasuke, that it would get better, no matter what. But as he listened to the boy´s sobs, he asked himself: Was this pain too much to bear?

Maybe it was, but he had to try and he would. This were his thoughts as he placed his palm on Sasuke´s head and began to comb through the unruly black hair with his fingers. Sasuke didn´t push him away, he stayed like he was, until hours later, he finally closed his eyes again and fell back to sleep.

 **Big Thanks to een nihc, for her great help.**

 **And thanks for the Reviews, it´s really a great support :-)**

 **Please let me know what you think and review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**First Step Forward**

The coming week went by in the same rhythms. Kakashi tried his best to help Sasuke to move on but the child was still deeply hurt. It was difficult for the boy to go back to a normal routine and Kakashi tried everything to make it easier. But when he looked into the boy's hollow eyes, he feared that the child could be broken forever.

When he heard the boy crying in the middle of the night, Kakashi asked himself what was he supposed to do? What should he do to make Sasuke feel better? He didn´t know. He did everything he could and tried to comfort the boy. He was glad that Sasuke accepted his help at least.

Even if Kakashi wanted to help Sasuke, he didn´t really know what the boy needed. The Copy Ninja could only tell, from his own experience, that it needed time, much more time.

After Sasuke´s visit to the cemetery last week, the boy had refused to visit the grave of his parents for the second time. At first Kakashi thought it was a good idea that the boy wanted to see his parent´s grave, but it seemed the visit had been too early for the boy. Sasuke still couldn´t accept the fact that his family wouldn´t come back again although the cemetery was the visible prove of that. Maybe this was not surprising. After all, the Uchiha boy was only seven years old.

The grief of the little Uchiha ran deep but the silver haired man was glad that the boy had begun to drink water again. It wasn't much but at least he drank some water, when Kakashi brought water to him. But he still refused to eat. Even after one week, Kakashi failed to make the boy to eat something. The only thing Sasuke ate without a fuss was the food pills. But the Jonin grew worried. Sasuke needed to eat again, it´s couldn´t continue the way as it was now.

The nightmares were worse. Sasuke screamed in his sleep almost every night and the Jonin had to wake the boy up. After that, the child would cry until exhaustion while Kakashi sat by his bed and tried to comfort him. Sometimes Sasuke tried to avoid sleep and stay awake during the night. But his effort was to no avail. The child was still very weak and needed rest.

Like now. It was still early in the morning. The boy had refused to go back to sleep, after he woke up from a nightmare again. But Kakashi knew how tired the boy was. He had given the boy a sleeping pill and he was lucky as the child fell back to sleep without interruption.

Kakashi used this time to prepare some breakfast. He needed a little break. Since the Uchiha massacre, he hadn´t slept and ate a lot himself. He had suffered with the boy. It hurt him deeply that he wasn´t able to stop Itachi. He blamed himself somewhat for the massacre, since he was someone close to Itachi. He should have noticed that something was wrong, maybe then, this wouldn't have happen and Sasuke wouldn´t suffer so much now.

He sighed, frustrated with himself and everything. How he wished to turn back time and change things to make everything alright again. He had wished for this almost his entire life. But now he wished it mostly for Sasuke. It wasn´t fair that this child had to go through all that.

After he finished his own breakfast, he rested his head on the kitchen table. He was so tired himself but at the same time, he wanted to stay awake, in case Sasuke needed him. His body needed sleep too, almost as badly as Sasuke did. Instead he ended up falling asleep in no time.

"I want to go outside..." Sasuke´s voice woke Kakashi immediately. He looked up and saw that the boy stood by the doorframe. Sasuke looked down to his feet and his bangs hid his eyes from Kakashi´s view.

"Sasuke..." Kakashi said.

"I want to go outside, now." the boy repeated and the Jonin noticed how the boy tried to sound sure but he failed.

"Outside?" The man asked confused. "Where do you want to go?"

"I..I don´t know..." Sasuke said after a hesitant moment.

Kakashi could tell that the boy was lying. Sasuke knew exactly where he wanted to go, but he didn´t care about that.

"Can I go out now?"

"Sure. I think it´s actually a good idea. But I would prefer you eat something before that. Your body needs food." The Jonin suggested with a gentle voice, which he reserved for Sasuke.

He didn´t expect Sasuke to follow his suggestion. That´s why he was really surprised as the boy nodded and entered the kitchen. Kakashi allowed himself a small smile under his masked as the boy sat himself down on one of the chairs. The Jonin filled a cup with milk and placed a toast with marmalade on the plate before Sasuke on the table. After that he sat down on the opposite chair. He waited patiently for Sasuke to begin to eat but the boy looked down on the plate with a frown.

"What´s wrong?" Kakashi asked, not sure if Sasuke changed his mind again and wouldn´t eat anything.

"I can´t eat that." The little one answered in a low tone without looking at the silver haired man.

"Why?"

"It's disgusting."

Kakashi´s visible eye widened a little bit at the remark from the child. Sure, he wasn´t really a master chef but he could prepare a breakfast. Maybe marmalade and milk weren´t Sasuke´s favourite? How should he know? Until now, he hadn´t talk to Sasuke about his likes and dislikes. He hoped someday he would get to know Sasuke better.

"So what do you want eat?" The Jonin asked with a smile under his mask. He wanted to show that he wasn´t angry about his reply. He wanted to show Sasuke that it was fine to talk openly with him. He wanted Sasuke to learn to trust him. Maybe this could be the first step in this direction.

Sasuke was silent for a long moment until he finally answered, "I don´t know... Maybe something different..."

"Mmmh, what´s your favourite food then?"

"I like everything with tomatoes. My mom al..." He broke up. His black eyes widened as he realized what he almost said.

The ex-Anbu knew exactly what Sasuke wanted to say. He wondered if someday, it would be something that wouldn´t remind Sasuke of the lost of his family. He saw how the child struggled to regain his composure and it hurt him.

"I´m not hungry anyway..." Sasuke mumbled in a low voice, as he stood up and left the kitchen.

Sasuke went back into his room and sat on the floor. He pulled his legs to his chest as he began to cry silently. He had never thought that it would hurt so much. He still couldn´t believe that his parents would never come back again. That he would never see them again. Never again could he hug his mother and he would never hear her soft and comforting voice again. Never again would he be able to impress his father. Never again would he hear his father call him his son. Everything was ripped away from him. There was nobody left. Not even his grandparents, his uncles or his aunts. Everyone was dead. And even if he still couldn´t understand everything at this young age, Sasuke knew that part of him died with his family.

Somehow he had the feeling that he would never be able to stop grieving. Even, if he tried so hard not to cry. He missed his family so badly, he couldn´t think of anything else!

"Why?" He cried to himself. "Why did you leave me behind? I wish that you had taken me with you!"

"Don´t say something like this." Kakashi´s soft voice made him look up, straight into the sad and understanding eye of him. The Jonin kneeled down before Sasuke. "Please don´t think about something like that again."

"Why should I stop?" The boy cried his heart out and this was the first time that Sasuke was being so open to him. This was good, he needed this. It always helped to let the emotions ran free but it was also heartbreaking. "Nobody is here! Their left me alone! Why did they leave me alone here? Why am I such an outsider that I can´t be with my family?"

"I know how hard this is for you. But I know that your family didn´t want you to be sad. They would be glad that you´re alive even if they aren´t with you." What else could he say? Kakashi didn´t know.

Sasuke shut his eyes as some tears streamed over his red cheeks. "I want my Mama here. I want her to tell me everything will be okay. I don´t want to be alone..."

The Jonin knew it wouldn't offer the boy much comfort but he wanted to tell Sasuke nevertheless. "Sasuke, I know that I´ll be never able to replace your parents. But let me tell you this, as long I´m here, you´ll never be alone. I swear that I´ll be always here for you."

The little boy opened his teary eyes and looked into the Kakashi's eye again. He could not really understand why this strange man said something like that to him. Sure, he had already noticed that this man was now his guardian but this was only some sort of job, right? Why would the man behaved this way as if he really cared for Sasuke.

"Why?" The boy mumbled. "I don´t understand why you would care for me?"

"Because..." Kakashi said. "You and I are very much alike. I lost my parents too, as a child. And my best friends died too. So I´m alone too, like you. That´s why I wanted to look out for you, because I know how you feel. Maybe we both can be there for each other so that we don´t need to be alone."

Sasuke hadn´t expected to hear such a thing. He had thought that the silver haired Jonin only cared for him because the Hokage had ordered him to do so. But as he recalled all the nights when Kakashi had sat by his side... Maybe this man was honest with him. Kakashi said he had lost his family too. Could he really understand how Sasuke felt?

"Do you miss your parents too?"

"Yes, I do." Kakashi didn´t tell Sasuke that he mostly resented his father for leaving him behind and that he suffered more from the lost of his team, because Rin, Obito and especially Minato sensei were always there for him and he missed them terribly. "And even if you´ll miss them your whole life, someday it´ll be easier. I told you that before."

"I wish, it´ll be easier soon."

"I´m sure it will. And do you know something?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke shook his head.

"I think your parents will always look after you even if you can´t see them." Sasuke´s lower lip began to tremble, as new tears appeared in his black eyes. Kakashi used his thumb to wipe the tears away from the boy´s cheeks. "And I know for sure that your family doesn´t want to see you so sad."

"I´ll try." The boy said, despite not completely convinced by Kakashi´s words. But it seemed he had open up more to the Jonin.

Kakashi smiled. "Do you still want to eat something?"

The child shook his head again.

"Are you sure? Not even this?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows with surprise. He opened his other hand and reveal a little red tomato on his palm. "I thought your favourite food will be sad if you don´t like it anymore."

A small smile appeared on Sasuke´s lips, even if it was only for a moment. He stretched his little hand out and grabbed the tomato. "I still like them." He said quietly before he took a bite from the red tomato.

The Jonin would never forget this moment when Sasuke finally ate something again. He felt so relieved as Sasuke took the first bite of food, after the massacre. He had a feeling that this moment was the first step towards forming a bond between them. He was glad and at the same time, sad too. The boy had somewhat open up to him and for that, he was grateful. But on the other hand, he saw how much the boy suffered and he couldn´t tell when this would get better. Nevertheless, Kakashi was a little bit more hopeful now – Sasuke would move forward, even if just a little. Every step, no matter how small, was good.

After Sasuke took the last bite of his tomato, Kakashi patted the boy´s head softly.

"Still want to go out?" The Jonin asked as he remembered Sasuke´s question from before.

The child hesitated for a moment but nodded.

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don´t know it yet... But I want to go alone..." Sasuke looked down. It was obvious that the boy still didn´t know what exactly to think of Kakashi, even if he seemed to open up a little more.

Kakashi was unsure how to answer. He thought that the boy only wanted some fresh air but it seemed he wanted to visit a special place alone. Maybe it was connected with his family, a place where he didn´t want Kakashi to be with him. But the Copy Ninja wasn´t convinced that this would be a good idea. The little Uchiha hadn't been outside alone since the massacre and if Kakashi was honest to himself, he didn´t want the boy out of his sight now. It was still too early for the child and the wound of his lost was still too fresh. He feared that something could happen, when Sasuke wandered off alone now.

But at the same time, he didn´t want to refuse the child´s request. So he came up with an idea. He would tell Sasuke that it was alright to go out by himself, while Kakashi would follow him secretly. He still was a Jonin after all and Sasuke wouldn´t be able to notice his presence.

"It´s alright, Sasuke." Kakashi told the boy. "You can go if you want, but please came back before sundown."

Sasuke nodded and stood up. He mumbled a quiet _Thank you_ as he made his way out of his room. Kakashi waited until he heard the front door closed, than he stood up and secretly followed the boy.

Sasuke had only made some steps away from their apartment complex when he slowed his steps and his shoulders went stiffed. Even from a distance, the Jonin could see that the little boy fought to collect his composure. When he realised which way Sause would choose, he could understand this well.

The Uchiha boy stopped in front of the gate from the cemetery. He hesitated for a long moment, before he finally passed through the gate with slow and heavy steps. Kakashi maintained a distance carefully behind. He took cover in the trees as Sasuke arrived before the grave of his parents. He knew that Sasuke needed some space for himself but he had the feeling he should observe the boy nevertheless. Even if Sasuke wanted to be alone, the Jonin couldn´t help it, he felt that somehow the boy would need him.

The raven haired boy stretched his hand out and touched the engraved names of his parents on the gravestone hesitantly. Kakashi could only see Sasuke´s back and so he didn't know that the boy's face was contorted with pain.

Sasuke fought to hold his tears again. He had never cried so much in his life before and he felt as if he would never stop crying. When his family was still alive, he was so happy. He was protected. He had lived in the Uchiha compound, in his own room; not in a tiny apartment. He was with his mother and his father; not with a strange man whom he knew nothing about. He was at home and protected; not left behind with nothing.

The boy knew it wasn´t long since those happy days, but he felt as if it happened ages ago. He couldn´t remember how it felt to be happy and somehow he knew that a part of him wouldn´t be able to feel such happiness again. The lost of his family had destroyed something inside him. Sasuke still couldn´t believe that his parents were really gone. That they were gone and left him behind. And he didn´t know what to do. He didn´t know what would happen with him without his parents.

The feelings were overwhelming again. He didn´t want to cry but he felt so helpless against the entire situation and it wasn't long before fresh tears streamed down his cheeks. He was so lost in this world without his family. And he was scared to think about what would happen from now onwards. How should he live without his parents? Nobody was left with him. He was the only survivor from his clan.

Sasuke began sobbing. "Mama... Papa... I´m scared..." He kneeled down and hugged himself as he realized that his parents wouldn´t answer him - they weren't with him anymore, they wouldn´t comfort him anymore.

This was the grave from his parents but Sasuke couldn´t feel any connection with his family. For him, this was only a cold stone, which wouldn´t talk to him. His mother would hug him, his father would talk to him. But here, there was no comfort from his parents. There was nothing for him here, like everywhere else.

Maybe Sasuke had thought that his parents would answer him. That they could still hear him or see him, they would know how much he suffered without them. Maybe he had hoped that they would send him some sign that they were still there with him.

He couldn´t and didn't want to see the reality.

"Mama! Papa! Please talk to me!" Sasuke tried again and cried harder as no answer followed. "Please... I... I´m scared..."

"It´s alright. I´ll protect you from now onwards."

Sasuke turned around and looked up to Kakashi. He hadn´t expected him to show up so suddenly, because he didn´t know that the Jonin had followed him and observed him the whole time. Kakashi had heard every word Sasuke had said and his heart had stung painfully. He had hoped that he and Sasuke have already connected somehow, but the man realized what a long way it was before them.

It was hard to see Sasuke like this. Even as an ex-Anbu who had mostly lost his emotions, Kakashi suffered with the child. He couldn´t help it. He had never thought that he was able to feel such an amount of affection for a young child.

After he heard Sasuke´s desperate speech, he couldn´t watch this scenario any longer. And so, he had decided to show up. Sasuke shouldn´t go through such emotions alone.

The Jonin placed his hand on Sasuke´s shoulder and wipe Sasuke´s tears away with the other hand, for the second time of that day. "Let´s go back home, alright?"

Without a word, the boy nodded. He still wasn´t sure what to think of his guardian, but in the end, he was everything that he had from now onwards. So he didn´t protest as Kakashi grabbed his hand and pulled him softly to his side as they left the cemetery together.

Sasuke didn´t knew what he should expect of his future. He wasn´t sure if he could trust Kakashi or not, but he needed to try. From now onwards, there were only him and Kakashi.

And now the boy knew that his parents were gone forever. They were dead and they wouldn´t answer him anymore and so he didn´t need to talk to them anymore.

As they left the cemetary together, Sasuke already knew he would never visit his parents' grave again.

Later in the evening, Kakashi sat upright in his bed, with his book in his lap. After some difficulty in the beginning, he had found his concentration back and so he could relax a little, maybe for the first time in weeks. Nevertheless, his thoughts went to Sasuke. After they arrived home, the boy went to bed almost at once. Kakashi had checked on him one hour ago and the boy was still asleep, so Kakashi decided to get some rest himself. But he couldn´t fall asleep and so he had decided to read a little and he found it really relaxing.

Another hour passed and the Jonin was so concentrated on his book, that he didn´t realized that Sasuke had left his room at first. It was only when the boy opened the door to his bedroom, did Kakashi looked up. Sasuke was still wrapped in his blankets, the blankets of his dead parents.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Kakashi asked with concern.

Sasuke nodded slowly and didn´t move from his spot.

Kakashi was worried but he felt a little bit relieved that the boy would seek him out for comfort. He knew the child didn´t want to be alone now. "Do you want to sleep in my room today?"

The Jonin wasn´t sure if Sasuke would agree but after a moment the child nodded again.

Kakashi patted the empty side of his bed. "Then come."

The boy complied and walked over and climbed onto the bed. He said nothing as he curled himself up and Kakashi placed the blankets over him.

"Try to catch some sleep." Kakashi said and Sasuke closed his eyes again. After a couple of minutes, the boy fell back to sleep. Sasuke slept for the rest of the night without any interruptions and Kakashi was thankful for that. Maybe Sasuke had finally begun to trust him. For the first time in weeks, Kakashi finally managed to sleep on his own bed without worry for Sasuke.

 **Big thanks to een nihc for her fantastic help!**

 **And a big Thanks for the Reviews! It´s a great support :-)**

 **Please let me know what you think and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Trust**

Another week had passed uneventfully. Sasuke began to talk more and he began to eat, even if the boy still didn´t eat that much. But for Kakashi, this was a big step in the right direction. But still the nightmares tormented the poor child, and so the boy often came to Kakashi for comfort. It was strange, but when the boy slept in Kakashi's bed, he could rest without any interruptions. Slowly, Sasuke began to feel safe in Kakashi´s presence and this was really a huge progress.

After breakfast, the Jonin had decided that he needed to go to the grocery store because their fridge was almost empty. Even if Sasuke still wasn´t a big eater, they needed fresh food because his last visit to the grocery store was a while ago and because Sasuke ate tomatoes most of the time.

He asked Sasuke, if the boy wanted to accompany him but the boy refused. A little bit disappointed, the Jonin promised to be back soon, as he made his way out.

Most stores were in Konoha´s town centre. The Jonin hadn´t visited this district since Sasuke was placed under his care, mostly because he wanted to avoid the looks from the villagers. But even now, weeks after the massacre, people still whispered about him and his connection to the last Uchiha. But nobody wanted to ask him about Sasuke. The Jonin assumed it was because they didn´t have sincere interest on the Uchiha boy.

So the silver haired man ignored the looks and whispers and made his way straight to one of the shops. He didn´t want to bother himself with such people and so he refused to give them his attention.

First he made his way to the vegetable stand. He filled his bag with a lot of tomatoes and some other vegetables, like potatoes and carrots. As he went through the ingredients, he decided to make a tomato soup that night. Sasuke still ate in small amounts but the boy was really fond of tomatoes.

Kakashi was still concentrating on his shopping when someone from behind called him. He turned around and saw Iruka Umino standing with his own grocery bag in his hand, right next to him was a blond boy of Sasuke´s age. He knew this boy well; in fact the whole village knew who this boy was. Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuriki of Konoha. Kakashi remembered that the boy had lived with Iruka some time ago.

"How are you and mostly how is Sasuke?" The brown haired teacher asked straightforwardly.

The ex-Anbu knew he couldn´t simply ignore him. Iruka was still Sasuke´s teacher, so it was natural that Iruka was concerned.

"Sasuke will be fine." Kakashi said. He wasn´t a man who offered big words but in the meantime, he believed that the boy would get better; he only needed a lot of time.

"Can you manage everything?" Iruka asked with a concerned look on his face. He hadn´t seen or heard anything from Sasuke since the funeral. Of course, he was worried about his student. He had lost his whole family and then he was placed in the care of Kakashi Hatake, an ex- Anbu who wasn´t really famous for being a caring person.

Kakashi wanted to sigh but it would be disrespectful to do it in front of the Chunin. He was a little bit annoyed that Iruka wanted to talk right now but on the other hand, he was glad that the teacher had sincere interest on Sasuke´s wellbeing.

"He is already a lot better but he still needs time..."

Iruka nodded with a sad expression on his face. "I still can´t believe that this really happened... I mean, why couldn´t someone prevent this..."

"I think, we´ll never comprehend what happened that night... " Kakashi said. "But the most important thing now is that he needs to move forward and I think he is improving, as far as I can tell."

"That sounds hard but I guess you´re right." Iruka said. "Do you know when he´ll come back to the academy?"

"I can´t tell now..." The Jonin answered honestly. He hadn´t thought about the academy until now, because he was busy with worrying if Sasuke ate enough and could sleep without nightmares.

"You should send him back as soon as possible." The brunette Chunin said, thoughtful. "I mean, he is a really smart child but he shouldn´t miss too much lessons. Besides, don´t you think the contact with other children will be good for him?"

Kakashi wanted to answer but suddenly the little Uzumaki interrupted him with a loud whine.

"Iruuuuuka!" Naruto whined. "Who is that guy?"

"Naruto! How often have I told you not to interrupt adults when they're speaking?" Iruka scolded the boy, before he looked back at Kakashi. "I apologize for his behaviour. He is always so impatient. He lives with me for a while now."

"I´ve heard about the academy... I don´t know when Sasuke will come back." Kakashi admitted.

He looked down at the blond Uzumaki boy, how the boy kept fidgeting because he was bored. The Jonin knew about Naruto´s problematic story, but the boy was a complete normal child otherwise. His blue eyes were full with energy and life - the complete opposite to Sasuke. Kakashi was aware that maybe Sasuke wouldn´t be able to be a normal child ever again and this thought pained him.

"I really think you should send him back to the academy as fast as possible. Sometimes it is better for children to mingle with each other without the adults interfering. Maybe Sasuke will find it easier to open up to children of the same age. Please think about that and give it a try. You can´t hide him forever from everything, he needs to find his way back to normalcy." Iruka said with a serious face.

Kakashi nodded. He knew that the Chunin was right about most things but he needed to think carefully, because he didn´t want to push Sasuke too early. But sooner or later, he knew it had to be done. "I´ll think about it, don´t worry. Please excuse me now, I´ve to go."

Iruka gave the Jonin a soft smile. "Of course. And Kakashi, please tell Sasuke that he can always come to me if he needs something, no matter what."

The silver haired Jonin nodded again before he turned around to leave. But he was stopped in his tracks again, this time because of Naruto.

"You! Tell Sasuke that he should come back to the academy!"The child yelled. "I got a lot stronger and I´m now a lot better than him, believe it!"

"...Sure." the Jonin answered, a little bit confused by the blond boy´s outburst, before he could finally take his leave.

When he arrived home, he noted that Sasuke was in his room, like most of the time. Even if the raven haired boy had begun to open up more, he spent most of his time alone in his room. But this was okay, because it would need a lot more time until the boy would feel completely at ease around him. Kakashi wouldn´t push Sasuke, he gave the boy the time he needed. He hoped Sasuke would trust him no matter what in the future and maybe then, the boy would tell him about that tragic night. Maybe... there was also a possibility that Sasuke would never be able to talk about this event... Either way was fine with Kakashi, even if he honestly thought that it would be better for the boy to talk. But he could understand if he didn´t want to. Kakashi was not a big talker himself and he kept his emotions mostly to himself.

But no matter what happened, Kakashi wanted to earn Sasuke´s trust, so that he would be able to help the boy to go on the right path in life.

After Kakashi let the boy know that he was back home, he went straight into the kitchen to prepare the tomato soup. He stopped as he heard Sasuke´s footsteps. Few minutes later, the boy stood by the doorframe of the kitchen silently. Sasuke looked down and Kakashi could see that he felt uncomfortable. Somehow the Jonin could tell that Sasuke didn´t want to be alone but he still wasn´t able to tell him that in words.

So Kakashi decided to speak first.

"Come in and sit down." He told the child.

The boy was a little hesitant at first, but then he nodded and did as he was told. Kakashi was surprised again how small the boy still was. He looked so young, he couldn´t believe that such a young child had to go through all these. But every time, when the Jonin looked into Sasuke´s black eyes, he saw his pain and fear. Such emotions shouldn´t be there in a child's eyes.

The boy looked down on his hands, which were curled into fists on his lap. As Kakashi observed him, he couldn´t help but asked himself whether the boy was okay. Of course, it was natural that the boy was still grieving. But there was nothing to distract the child, at least for a while. He thought about his talk with Iruka. Maybe the academy teacher was right and the Uchiha should go back to the academy soon. Maybe the company of other children would be good for the Uchiha. Maybe Sasuke could be a distracted for a couple of hours at least.

The Jonin was interrupted in his thoughts, as the raven haired boy suddenly began to speak.

"Can I ask you something?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

Kakashi nodded with a warm smile under his mask, because he wanted to show the boy that it was alright and he could ask him anything.

"Why do I live with you?"

Kakashi was a little bit surprised but at the same time, it was normal that Sasuke would ask such question. But it's just that Kakashi didn´t know how to answer without mentioning the boy's dead parents.

"Because... You´re still very young and you need someone to care for you."

He hoped that Sasuke would be satisfied with his answer but the boy scowled a little as he looked up at Kakashi.

"I´m not a baby!" The boy protested and for the first time, Kakashi saw a little bit of life back in the his black eyes. "But what I meant with my question was... Why do you have time all day? Do you have nothing else to do? Are you at least a shinobi?"

Sasuke was really a smart child, Kakashi had to admit. The boy was cute with a pout on his face, but it was pity that this expression lasted only for a moment. But it was a good sign nevertheless, that the boy could express feelings again. Kakashi hoped that the he would learn to laugh again, someday.

The Uchiha wanted to know what kind of person Kakashi was, or more importantly, the boy needed to know if he possesses power. Even if Sasuke was still a young child, he was an Uchiha nevertheless and among the Uchiha clan, only shinobi with special skills were valued and respected. The Uchiha children learned early that they were expected to excel. Maybe Sasuke wanted to know if Kakashi fit this description. The boy had no idea that the Jonin was a famous shinobi, even outside of Konoha's walls.

"I´m a Jonin." Kakashi said and smiled a little when he saw Sasuke´s surprised expression. The boy hadn´t expected to hear this. However Kakashi hid the fact that he was still an Anbu a while ago and he used to be close to Itachi. He wasn´t sure if he would ever tell Sasuke about that.

"Really? Why do you care for me? I mean a Jonin had a lot of work to do..."

"You know, I want to help you and protect you. I´ve already told you that I´m alone too, right?"

Sasuke nodded. "I´m sorry... I didn´t want you to remember..."

"It´s alright. Don´t worry." The jonin noticed how Sasuke looked down again and he saw that the boy fought with his composure again. It was sad how much the child still suffered. But Kakashi wanted to show him that it was alright to tell him and show him how he felt, that they both could open up to each other, that the boy wasn´t alone even after everything. The Jonin turned around and approached the child. He laid his hand down on Sasuke´s head and stroked his soft hair gently. He was glad that Sasuke didn't flinch or went stiff, it seemed that the Uchiha boy had already understand that he didn´t need to fear him. And he seemed to know that Kakashi only wanted to help him.

"Like I told you before, Sasuke..." Kakashi said calmly. "Someday, you´ll get better."

Sasuke nodded again but it was obvious that the boy still couldn´t believe these words, even if the boy wanted to believe it.

"Will you work again as a Jonin?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Sure..." The silver haired Jonini said. "When you´re well enough to go back to the academy, I´ll go back to duty."

"Will you protect Konoha?" The child asked again.

"Yes, this is my duty." Kakashi said but he didn´t mention that he would probably be trapped with a Genin team of his own. If he was honest, he wasn't really looking forward to be a teacher of three teenage brats and if wasn´t for his new role as a guardian, he would have refused the Hokage's request. But now, it was his first duty to make sure that Sasuke was alright and he couldn´t leave Konoha for long missions. He had to admit to himself that the teacher job was the best alternative.

The little boy seemed to feel uncomfortable and Kakashi thought that something was bothering the child.

"Please tell me if something is bothering you.." The Jonin tried to courage the boy.

After a hesitant moment, the raven haired child nodded and looked up with teary eyes. "I... I wonder why nobody... could protect my family..." The boy stopped and squeezed his eyes close to prevent the tears from falling. "I wish someone had helped them and they could be still here... I mean Konoha has a lot of Jonin! Why didn´t someone come to help..."

A soft sob escaped Sasuke´s throat and the Jonin swallowed hard. He had been asking himself this question countless times since the massacre but he never found an answer. Kakashi wished he could give the boy an answer but he couldn´t.

Nevertheless he kneeled down to look at the child in the eyes and placed his hands gently on Sasuke´s shoulders. "I´ve asked myself the same question and I´m sorry but I don't have an answer for you. I think... Everything happened too fast for someone to react..."

"My clan was strong too..."Sasuke mumbled. "I mean... Why did they have to die then? Or was _he_ much stronger?"

Kakashi knew exactly who Sasuke meant _._ And it was an understandable question. He had thought the same. Why was Itachi able to kill his whole clan only by himself? The Uchiha clan was one of the strongest clans in Konoha and even if Itachi was a protégé, how could he destroy his entire clan alone?

It didn´t make any sense but then again, there were still plenty unanswered questions. Maybe... Just maybe the Uchihas hadn´t expected that Itachi would turn his back against them. Maybe Itachi had grabbed them by surprise and maybe... his family couldn't bring themselves to kill Itachi... These were some of his theories but he couldn´t tell Sasuke this. The boy was too young, too confused and too hurt. These were his own thoughts and he had no proof for any of these.

"I´m sorry that I can´t give you an answer to all your questions. Maybe someday when you´re older, we can look for an answer together but I don´t think that _he_ was stronger than everyone in your clan and he isn´t stronger than every shinobi in Konoha either... I´m capable of protecting you from anyone. And I´ll do that. So for now, don´t torment yourself with those questions. Maybe you´ll find an answer later or maybe not."

"I only can´t understand... Why all this happened!" Sasuke sobbed slowly and raised his hand to wipe his tears.

"Shh…." The Jonin soothed as he hugged Sasuke. "I know, I know..."

He repeated these words until Sasuke calmed down again. It was still so difficult for Sasuke to control his emotions and he realized how much time the boy still needed. It was horrible that it was Sasuke´s own brother who took his family away and Kakashi could only image the feeling of betrayal the boy must felt. He was glad that the boy calmed down after a long moment, but the sad expression stayed on the boy´s face.

Kakashi wiped the rest of tears away from Sasuke´s face. As he observed the boy, he noticed how tired the boy looked.

"Maybe you should get some rest until dinner is ready. You look really tired."

"I´m tired..." The boy admitted and rubbed his eyes, because they were burning from the tears.

"Do you want to lie down for a while? You can go to my bed if you prefer." Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Can... Can you stay with me?" The boy asked with hope in his eyes that his guardian wouldn´t refuse.

The Jonin smiled again. He had to prepare dinner but he could do that after the boy went to sleep. Sasuke still needed a lot of rest and it was a good thing if he could sleep more in the afternoon.

"Of course I can stay with you." the Jonin nodded as he took Sasuke´s hand in his own and guided the boy into his bedroom.

The boy didn´t hesitate as he climbed into the big bed. Kakashi sat down on the edge of the bed and tucked Sasuke in with his blanket. He stroked Sasuke's hair softly.

Sasuke looked up for a moment. "I´m glad that you´re with me..." He mumbled quietly before he closed his eyes.

Kakashi couldn´t helped but smiled under his mask. It seemed that slowly, he and Sasuke made some progress towards a healthy relationship. The boy opened up a little bit more to him every day.

"I´m glad you´re with me too, little one." The Jonin whispered and he meant it.

 **Special Thanks to een nihc for a great help again.**

 **And I thanks a lot for the reviews too :-) It´s always a great support.**

 **In the next Chapter Sasuke´ll have his first day at the academy after the massacre. From then I´ll write more in Sasuke´s view too.**

 **Please review! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**(I´m still looking for a new beta, so I´m aware that this chapter contains a lot of faults. I wanted to update again and I tried my best to avoid faults but my english is far from perfect. Please let me know if you notice a lot of faults, so that I can change it. :-))**

 **It Is Not That Easy**

The day came, where Kakashi decided it would be the best to send the boy back to the academy. It was a strange feeling, which Sasuke felt as he and his guardian made their way to the schoolbuilding. It was a long time, since Sasuke was the last time here and with an painful stung in his chest, he remembered that this was before everyone was murdered.

Sasuke holded Kakashi´s hand the whole way. Nobody said a word, maybe the Jonin already knew that he wasn´t very comfortable at that moment. So much thoughts ran through the little Uchiha´s head. He didn´t knew what he should expect from his first day back, after the massacre. Sure, Kakashi had told him that he would be placed in his old class again but somehow the boy couldn´t help, he had the feeling that everything had changed.

He missed his parents. Especially today. But in the end they wasn´t around him anymore and the boy knew he needed to learn to accept that fact.

He wasn´t sure how he would handle to be around so much people all of the sudden. Since the massacre, Kakashi was the only one around him. He had learned to trust that man and in some ways he felt protected and safe in his presence. Sasuke was afraid, because he knew he had to go through alone through this first day back. Kakashi would leave him.

Maybe the Jonin noticed the tension and his stiffness, because the man placed a gentle hand on his head. Sasuke looked up and saw that Kakashi smiled down at him.

"Don´t worry." Kakashi said. "Everything will be fine."

Sasuke nodded, even if he wasn´t sure whetever Kakashi´s words were true or not. But there wasn´t any way back now. The boy knew he had to move forward, Kakashi had talked with him countless times. And he understand that he couldn´t hide himself from the world forever, but he was afraid.

Only some minutes later, the boy found himself before academy entrance. He swallowed hard and he wanted to turn around and ran away from here but Kakashi still holded his hand.

It was so loud, laughing and screaming children everywhere. It was not long ago and he was one of this children. Always without worry, protected inside his Clan. With a family. But after everything was taken away from him, Sasuke had already asumed that he could never be the same like before and yet he knew it for sure.

Kakashi pulled him gentle inside the builing and Sasuke wanted nothing more as to turn around and leave this place. Especially after he notices that a lot of people and children were looking at him. He suspected that they knew about the massacre and the boy couldn´t handle this. He stopped in his tracks.

"Please let´s go back home. I don´t want to be back here." Sasuke said and looked up at Kakashi. He hated it that his tone sounded like a whine but in the end he felt like crying anyways.

The Jonin looked down at him, before he kneeled down to look him directly in the eyes. Kakashi´s look was understanding and it seems he knew already how Sasuke felt. "I know this is a hard day for you, but it´s have to be. You need to move on. You´ll see, there is nothing to be afraid of."

Sasuke knew that Kakashi was right and his head really understood what he was telling him was reasonable. But his heart doesn´t stopped pounding in his chest.

Before the Uchiha could answer his guardian, a familar and well known person appeared beside them.

"Sasuke! I´m so glad you´re finaly back." Iruka Umino said. He was Sasuke´s mainteacher.

"Iruka." Kakashi said and greeted him and stood up. It seems the both knew eachother already.

"Kakashi, I´m glad you´ve finaly decided to send Sasuke back to the academy." Iruka smiled kindly, before he looked down at Sasuke. "How are you Sasuke?"

The Uchiha looked down, he felt really uncomfortable in that moment. Without a thought he stepped a step back, so that his body was hide behind Kakashi´s legs. He didin´t realize how obvious it was that he didn´t wanted to be here. Kakashi turned around to him and placed his hands on Sasuke´s shoulders and pulled him before, so that the boy stood directly before his guardian.

"I´m sorry, he is a ittle bit exeited. He was a long time not here, so..." Kakashi said and Iruka nodded.

"Don´t worry, I know it´s a difficult time for you Sasuke. But everyone is glad that you´re back. Let´s go to the classroom, the lesson will start in a couple of minutes." Iruka said and turned around after he gave them a sign to follow him.

Kakashi grabbed his hand again, because he wasn´t moving from alone. Only a moment later they stood before his classroom door. This was his classroom, since he entered the academy but after everything what happened, everything seems so far away.

Iruka opened the door and entered the room, he gave Kakashi a sign to follow inside and the Jonin pulled Sasuke behind. Sasuke observed the room, he had never noticed before, how big this room was. All his classmates sat already on their places. Sasuke asumed it was because Iruka had entered. He could feel how everyone observed him. The boy knew that the most of the other children knew about everything what happend. He wondered if in Konoha were still people who doesn´t knew, that his own brother had killed his whole family, expect for him.

Sasuke couldn´t stand this looks. He hated it. After the massacre, Sasuke hadn´t left often their apartment and when it was always together with Kakashi. the Jonin had protected him from the whispers and this looks and the Uchiha had felt himself somewhat protected.

But now... Kakashi would leave him alone and nobody would be there to help him. He had to go alone through the whispers and looks. He grabbed Kakashi´s hand firmer. It was a desperate try, a sign to show him that he shouldn´t leave him here. The sevenyears old wasn´t ready to face all of this now.

But after Kakashi spoke some words with Iruka he let go of Sasuke´s hand.

"Sasuke take your seat. We want to begin the lesson." Iruka said kindly and smiled down at him.

The little Uchiha looked desperate at Kakashi. But his guardian gave him only a meaningful nod before he turned around and left the classroom. Sasuke tried his best not to shed a single tear. He felt so lost in this moment. He looked down as he made his way to his seat. It was the same seat, he used to sit since he started the academy. And as he sat himself down, he couldn´t help and felt a wave of pain in his chest. Everything seems so normal, as if his parents were still alive. The last time he sat here... Was the day of the Uchiha massacre.

He still remembered every single detail from that day. And in that moment, he could only think about this day _._

 _He sat on the kitchen table, together with his parents. They were eating breakfast together and as he left they wished Sasuke a good day at school, like every other day. Sasuke was happy and he couldn´t feel that something was wrong... He stayed even longer at the academy to practice some shuriken Jutsu. It was already dark as he realized how late it was. He had hurried back home, knew full well that he would get a firm scolding from his parents for being that late. But as he arrived at the Uchiha district, he noticed at once that something wasn´t right. All the lights were out and even if he was late, he wasn´t that late. He slowed down as he stepped through the empty streets. It wasn´t normal that nobody was outdoors. Sasuke couldn´t help but felt a sick feeling in his stomach. Something must happened, this was the only explation. He hurried up again in order to reach his house as fast as possible. He turned in the small sideway which he always used to get at home and then he saw it. Blood. Everywhere the complete street was full with big red bloodpatches... Some metres away he noted the first dead corpses of his family members. He saw the lifeless faces of his aunt, his uncle, his cousins... Sasuke could only feel panic. He was so scared and on the same time worried about is parents and his brother. They needed to be alright, this was his only thought as he ran to his house. He tried to block out the dead members of his Clan which laid on the empty streets... He couldn´t think of an explation, he only wanted to find his family, he wanted to make sure they were alright. His house was dark but he entered nevertheless without an second guess. The boy stormed through the dark and empty house. He called at his parents but nobody answered. The fear inside him grow and so did the worry about his family. Then he heard a loud ramble, than a second. He ignored his fear as he stormed of into the direction from where the noises came. Without a second thought he pushed the door open and entered the room from where the noises came. And then he saw it... Blood everywhere, the blood of his dead parents. While red eyes looking in his direction and all what he felt was the deep pain and the fear as he looked directly into the eyes of their murder..._

Sasuke didn´t knew why he saw all the terrible pictures now, while he sat in his class. Normaly the lesson should distract him a little bit but the opposite was the case. He could only think on his dead family. He remembered everything before this happened and he could feel how happy he was back then. And now, he felt so alone and broken.

A single tear droped on his table. he couldn´t cry not here infront of everyone. Besides he had cried so much in the past weeks but in this moment he felt so lost. He holded his head low, because nobody should notice his state. He wanted to be strong, he should move forward like Kakashi had told him many times. This was logical even for a little boy. But his heart told him different and the pain was still so present, that he couldn´t handle all of this. He was alone here in this room and even if they were his classmates and his teacher, in the end they were still strangers. The Uchiha boy longed for safety and in the past weeks there was Kakashi the person whom gave him this feeling. Sasuke wanted that Kakashi would say him that everything would be alright, like he did since he was placed into the mans care. But he had left him alone here and the ravenhaired boy didn´t know how he should made it through the day. It was still early in the morning and the school day would end in the late afternoon.

He kept his head down for the complete first period. A loud ring informed that the first period was over and that was time for a short break. The student´s stood up from their seats and wandered through the room. The room got filled with the loud laughter and voices from the children. But Sasuke stayed where he was. He didn´t even bother to look up, because he was afraid to meet the eyes of his peers.

The little boy wanted to avoid to confront himself with his peers, because he was afraid that someone could ask him about the massacre and he knew for sure that he couldn´t handle this. So he stayed on his place and hoped that nobody would approach him.

But the boy wasn´t that lucky. The first minutes were hardly over as Naruto sat down on the empty chair next to him.

"Hey Sasuke! Where have you been all the weeks?" Naruto asked freely.

Sasuke swallowed. he had asked himself if someone in the village still wasn´t aware of the fact that his entire clan was murdered and here he got the answer. Of course Naruto Uzumaki wasn´t aware. He was the most stupid person in the entire village, maybe on the entire world. Of course this jerk wouldn´t know about everything. He was grateful for that, at least one person couldn´t confront him with the truth. But nevertheless the Uchiha wasn´t in the mood to talk with the noisy Uzumaki boy. His eyes were still wet and that Naruto would notice that he was almost crying was the last thing he wanted, so he turned his head simple to the other direction and showed Naruto the cold shoulder.

Of course, the Uzumaki didn´t like that. "Hey I´m talking with you!"

The Uchiha could remember that this boy was always annoying. He had hated his loud voice since the first day on the academy. He didn´t like Naruto as a person but in this moment he only wished the blond would leave him alone. He was shaken with his own emotions.

Naruto puffed his cheeks as he grabbed Sasuke´s shoulder and turned the ravenhaired boy around. "What is your problem? I´ve asked you a simple question! You should answer if someone ask you or are you so great that you think yourself ways above all of us? You´re such a freak, ya know!"  
"Naruto!" Came the shrill voice from a pink haired girl. "Stop bothering Sasuke kun!"

"Yeah, he went through enough." A blond girl said. "Do you´ve any idea why Sasuke kun was absent all this weeks? You´re so stupid Naruto!"

Sasuke knew the girls. Their name´s were Sakura and Ino. He hadn´t really talked alot with them in the past but the two tried always to get his attention. On the beginning he had wondered about that but now he didn´t care. He only wished for them to shut up, since it was obvious that the two knew somehow about the massacre.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked confused.

And Sasuke clenched his fists tighter, while fresh tears welled up in his eyes. He looked still in the other direction.

"You´ve really no idea?" A boy came between them and meddled himself into the conversation. "The entire village talked about that. Even my mom spoke only yesterday with some friends about that event."

Sasuke went stiff. He squeezed his eyes shut in order to block the voices of his peers out. _Please don´t say it! Don´t say it!_ The boy pleaded inside his head.

"The Uchiha Clan was killed. Sasuke is the only survivor." The boy continued without looking at Sasuke. "This is the reason why he wasn´t at school the whole time."

Naruto looked first at the two girls for comfirmation and he got a sad nod from Ino as answer, before he turned back to Sasuke.

"Why didn´t you say a word! This is terrible!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke wanted to disappear and he wanted never come back again. He hated Naruto, he hated Sakura and Ino, he hated that stupid boy, he hated them all! he hated this whole class because they all had the life which he would never have again. They all could be happy, they all had their family. Nobody had a murderous older brother, who had killed his enitre family. Only him... He felt so anrgy, hurt and confused that he doesn´t notice how the tears streamed down his cheeks. And he cried again. It was pathetic.

"What´s going on here?" The strict voice of Iruka appeared beside the group. The teacher observed his students with a glare. It was obvious that Naruto and the others made Sasuke uncomfortable but as he looked at his ravenhaired student he saw how the boy´s shoulders were shaking and he noted the tears on the Uchiha´s face. "What are you doing with Sasuke?"

The four children flinched as Iruka confronted them. Nobody from them had wanted Sasuke to cry. Until now, they hadn´t even noticed the Uchiha´s tears.

Iruka approached to Sasuke and placed his hand on the boy´s shoulder. "Sasuke are you alright?" He asked concerned.

More children watched the scenario and Sasuke grow more and more overhelmed. He felt so exposed. He only wanted to ran from here, as he heard the whispers of his peers.

As he didn´t answer Iruka´s question, the man began scolding Naruto and the others. Sasuke used this distraction to get away from here. He sprang to his feet and stormed out of the room as fast as he could.

He wanted his mother so terrible in that moment that his heart broke. She would know how to comfort him and his mother would make everything alright. But there was no mother for comfort anymore and Sasuke knew that. But how can you accept that fact. Would he ever be able to accept that his family was killed by his brother. Itachi, the person he trusted the most!?

The little one stopped in his tracks as he realized how far he was already away from the academy building. He was still crying tears of fury and pain. He tried to calm down, but it was difficult.

Somehow he couldn´t controll his emotions. Maybe it was because of the little interaction with his peers, because it was the first time that someone confronted him directly with the massacre. But he missed his family. He thought at his father, his mother and all the others. And then he thought at his brother. He had loved and admired Itachi like nobody else. And he had thought that he was a special person for his brother too, that they posseses a special connection.

And now... Everything was a lie. And he hated himself for that, because he had loved and trusted a killer.

Sasuke took deep breathes. He was exhausted and so overhelmed by his feelings. Nothing was better, the pain was still the same.

Then suddenly Kakashi landed before him. Sasuke hadn´t noticed the Jonin´s presence. Maybe he was lost in his own thoughts. His guardian looked worried at him as he stepped near.

"Iruka informed me that you´ve ran away from the acamedy. What happened Sasuke?" The silverhaired man asked with concern.

The Uchiha didn´t knew why but he wanted to cry again. He felt so relived that Kakashi was here now and he couldn´t understand that. He didn´t wanted to be alone and he was so scared after all his family were gone. And then... Kakashi´s appearance showed him that there were still someone who cared for him.

Without a word the boy stepped forward and embraced Kakashi´s waist. He knew that man would listen to him, he had done that the complete past weeks.

Kakashi was now very worried. The boy was complete beside himself. "What happened Sasuke? Why did you ran off?"

"Please don´t send me back to the academy." The boy pleaded and buried his head in Kakashi´s west.

The Jonin kneeled down and pulled Sasuke away so that he could look him straight into the eyes.

"I hate them all! They are so stupid and I don´t want to see someone from them ever again!" Sasuke cried and he didn´t bother to hide his tears and his anger, which was more directed to himself.

"Did someone say something mean?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke couldn´t bring himself to answer that question. And there was no use for that anyway, because he knew that Kakashi already knew the answer.

"I need to know what exactly happened Sasuke, to be able to help you." His guardians tone was soft and understanding.

But Sasuke had no longer the energie to talk. He only wanted rest and safety. He felt safe in Kakashi´s presence and somehow he had began to trust that man but on the other hand it wasn´t the same art of trust anf comfort which his parents gave him.

 _What´s the difference?_ A voice in his head spoke. _Your own brother destroyed everything, so blood relationship is meaningless. Maybe the word of a stranger is more worth than the words of your own family._

Itachi had betrayed him... And he would never forget this feeling. Maybe he realized now how much his brother had broke him.

"Sasuke." His guardian repeated. "You can tell me everything, you know that right?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don´t want to talk anymore. I only want never go back to that stupid academy!"

Kakashi wanted to say more but Sasuke pushed him away and ran, for the second time today. Maybe the silverhaired man would follow him but the boy doesn´t care. He only wanted to leave everything behind but in the end he could ran so much he wanted, the reality would catch him and Sasuke was aware of that.

 **Thanks for the reviews.**

 **I wanted to show in this Chapters Sasuke´s mixed emotions. He had learned to trust Kakashi but in the end he suffered still under the massacre to much. And the academy had overtaxed him very much.**

 **Please let me know what you think :-)**


	9. Chapter 9

**No Regrets**

Kakashi looked down at the sleeping face from Sasuke. The boy laid curled up on the sofa, while his head rested of Kakashi´s lap. He listen to the child´s calm breathe as he recalled today events in his head over and over again. He thought that Sasuke was ready for the academy. He had hoped so much that this would disstract the boy and help him to move forward. But now, he asked himself if it was still to early. On the other hand, Sasuke needs to go back to the academy. He was still a child and needed a lot to learn and can´t miss to much lessons, or otherwise the boy wouldn´t be able to catch up with his peers.

He sighed. After Sasuke ran away from him, earlier today, the boy had exhausted himself so much that he almost fainted. As Kakashi found him, the little one hadn´t made any protest as he had picked him up and carried him home.

The silverhaired Jonin hadn´t even the chance to talk with Sasuke again, because as they arrived home, the Uchiha was almost asleep. Kakashi sat down with the boy on the sofa in the livingroom. He had stroked Sasuke´s back in a calming manner and after some minutes, the Uchiha was soundly asleep.

This was a good thing, the child´s mind needed rest. The Jonin observed Sasuke a long time. He was worried. It was expected that it would be difficult for Sasuke, to go back to normal but he never expected that the boy was still traumatized in such extent.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, as he heard the bell ring on the frontdoor. He wondered who would visit them. He was glad that Sasuke didn´t woke up from that sound. He removed the boy´s head carefully from his lap, before he stood up an went straight to the frontdoor.

He was surprised that Iruka stand before his door.

"Iruka?"

"May I come in?" The academy teacher asked politely.

Kakashi stepped aside as he gave the other man a nod. "Sure."

He led Iruka into his kitchen, because he didn´t want to interrupt Sasuke´s sleep. The Jonin gave the brunette a sign to sit down, while he asked; "May I offer you something to drink?"

Iruka shook his head. "No thanks. I only want to speak with you for a moment."

"I´m sure you´re here for Sasuke, are you?" He asked, while he sat down on the chair next to Iruka.

"Yes I´m. Did Sasuke tell you what happened at the academy? I mean, why did he ran off alll of the sudden?" Iruka´s voice was full with real concern and somehow Kakashi was glad that the man showed genuine interest in Sasuke´s wellbeing.

"I haven´t talked about the reason with him yet. He was too overhelmed and emotional for a talk." The silverhaired Jonin answered. " He is asleep now, and I hope that a good sleep will help him to calm down."

Iruka sighed deeply. "Naruto told me that he and the others mentioned the massacre."

Kakashi closed his eye for a moment. He had already thought so, but he could understand that Sasuke couldn´t handle this well. Of course it´s a while now, since the tragedy but he shouldn´t forget that the Uchiha was only sevenyears old. It was still more difficullt for Sasuke, as for an older person. And even if he had expected that the first day back in school would be hard for Sasuke, he hadn´t thought that a simple remark would hit the child that hard. Today was only prove of Sasuke´s still unstable condition.

"I knew it would be difficullt but it´s way harder than I´ve thought it would be." Kakashi admited openly. "I don´t know what I can do. I´ve thought he is better but in the end he is still suffering."

"Don´t give up now Kakashi!" Iruka said and bent forward and placed his hand on Kakashi´s shoulder. "He is a lot better now but maybe we simple expect to much. After everything what happened... We can´t expect that everything will be fine all of the sudden."

"I don´t expect that." Kakashi shook his head. "It´s just that I was hoping so much that he is better. I thought that he could handle the academy. I only want to help him but in the end I can´t even appreciate for what he is ready and for what not."

Now it was Iruka´s turn to shake his head. "Don´t say something like that Kakashi. I can see that you give everything for this child. You care for him more as for everyone else since your team passed away. You can understand Sasuke´s pain better than everyone, even me. I agree with you, that this is a difficullt situation, but you did great until now. You need a lot of patience and Sasuke needs time. So much time."

"I give him all the time he needs. But I´m worried that he´ll be never able to go back to normal. That he is broken too much..."

Iruka offered him a small smile. "I think you shouldn´t be to desperate about todays events. Maybe it was still a little bit to early. Let´s give him some days rest now and then we´ll try again. Next time you can stay with him in class. I believe, he´ll be more comfortable with you on his side. What do you think?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, this is a good idea. But I guess... I should talk with him tomorrow properly. I´ll let you know when he is ready."

"That´s fine." Iruka said and stood up. "I´ll take my leave now. I´ve left Naruto at home by himself."

The Jonin stood up as well, as he brought the man to the door. "Iruka thank you very much for your concern and understanding."

"No need to thank me for that. Sasuke is my student of course I´m concerned with his wellbeing. If you two need something, then let me know."

"Anyway, thank you."

"You´re welcome." Iruka said and bid a good evening, before he left.

Kakashi closed the door and a deep sigh escaped his throat. It was a long day today and he was exhausted himself. But his mind couldn´t rest now. He was worried and disappointed. He had put so much hopes in that day! On the other hand, Iruka was right. He should have expected hindrances on the way. Even if Sasuke was better now, there will be always things which pull the boy down again. This is normal after everything what happened. It was...

Suddenly a loud scream resounded through the walls of their apartment. Kakashi´s body twitched. The noise hit him by surprise, but he knew who was screaming. He hurried into the livingroom at once. His visible eye widened on the sight.

Sasuke was still sleeping! He fought with his arms and kicked his legs, while he screamed! The boy suffered a terrible nightmare! Without a second thought, Kakashi moved forward and grabbed the child by the shoulders.

"Sasuke wake up!" He called, as he shook the poor boy.

Seconds later, Sasuke´s black eyes went wide open. He needed a moment to realize his surroundings. The child´s breathe was heavy and Kakashi could see how scared the boy was.

"It´s alright." Kakashi said in a soothing voice and tried to hide his own tumult. He was full with panic and concern as he had heard the scream. He observed the poor boy´s face, while he was still holding his shoulders.

The Uchiha´s eyes were filled with unshed tears and his cheeks wore a red flush. Sasuke bit his lip and breathed in and out. Then he looked down and tears began to ran down his cheeks. Kakashi followed the boy´s glance. He noticed why the boy began to cry, as he saw the boy´s soaked trousers and the patch on the sofa. During the nightmare, Sasuke had wet himself.

Before he could say something, Sasuke pushed his arms from his shoulders and stormed off. The Jonin heard how the door from the bathroom slamed close. He could understand that Sasuke needed some privatcy now. It was understandable that the child was embarrassed.

Kakashi´s own heart throbbed painful. He had a good guess what about Sasuke´s dream was and he felt the familiar rage inside growing. How could Itachi do this to his own little brother? He would never be able to understand this.

He went into Sasuke´s room and took a fresh pyjama from the dresser. He could hear Sasuke´s loud sobbing as he approached the bathroomdoor.

"Sasuke! Please open the door. There is nothing you need to be ashamed of. I´m not angry." He called, as he knocked on the door. "I bring you fresh clothes.."

"Go away!" Sasuke called from inside. His voice was hoarse from all the crying.

"Sasuke please, I want to help you." Kakashi pleaded.

But Sasuke´s only reply was that he should go away. Maybe Sasuke needed some more time for himself.

"Okay Sasuke, I´ll leave you alone for now. I put the clothes before the door, but I´ll go away. I promise." He said as he moved with away, with mixed feelings.

He sighed as he began to clean up the mess on the sofa. It wasn´t a big deal, even if he hadn´t expected to handle something like that. But after all Sasuke was still a very young child. But he could understand how scared the boy was and he was sure that the young Uchiha had dreamed about the slaughter on his family. In this moment, he hadn´t any doubt that Sasuke had watched the massacre. Otherwise he couldn´t be so broken like he was.

Recently he had thought that Sasuke was alot better, but know he realized that nothing had really changed. The boy was still full with grief, fear and pain.

The silverhaired shinobi tried to block out this terrible thoughts, as he continued to clean up the mess. But his mind was running amok and he couldn´t calm down.

"I´m sorry...:"

Kakashi turned around as he heard Sasuke´s soft and muffled voice from behind. The poor boy stood in the door, changed in the fresh pyjama, which he had placed before the bathroom door.

"I... I didn´t want it..." Sasuke sobbed as still tears were running down his face.

The Jonin shook his head as his eye softened. He stood up and stepped to the boy. He kneeled down before him. "Don´t worry. It´s okay. I´m not angry."

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and used his fists to clean the tears away. "I... I..."

"You was scared. I can understand that." The Jonin´s voice was soft and understanding and before he knew Sasuke, he hadn´t thought that he could show such a soft side.

"I thought... That he killed them again..." And the the boy burst out into tears.

Kakashi did the only right thing he could do in that moment, he pulled Sasuke into a firm embrace. He picked the boy up and Sasuke clung his fingers into his shirt. He stroked the dark hair, as he went slowly up and down.

"Shhht. It´s okay. I´m here little one. You don´t need to be scared anymore."

He repeated the soothing words over and over again. Until the loud sobbing went down to quiet sniffles. The boy didn´t let go of Kakashi´s shirt and he hid his face in Kakashi´s neck. As the boy calmed finally down, he brought Sasuke into his own bedroom. It was clear, that Sasuke wouldn´t be able to sleep in his own room today and so Kakashi placed the child on the empty bedside.

Sasuke curled himself up to a ball again and Kakashi wrapped his arm around the tiny figure, after he tucked the boy in.

"I can´t sleep now." Sasuke muttered.

"Don´t worry I´m here. You should relax a little."

"But... I don´t want to dream again. I don´t want to see this pictures anymore." The ravenhaired boy placed his hand over his eye in order to block the image out.

"Do you want to talk about your dream?" Kakashi asked carefully.

Sasuke shook his head and closed his eyes. "I only want forget everything."

"It´s alright Sasuke. But if you want to talk, you know that you can come to me with everything."

The boy nodded slowly. "My head hurt..." He muttered quietly.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. Maybe the stress from today was to much for the boy, but as he placed his palm on Sasuke´s forehead he noticed that he felt really hot.

"You´re burning." Kakashi said more to himself. He had no experience with an ill child, but even he could tell that Sasuke had a fever.

"I don´t feel so well either." The little Uchiha responded.

He started to panic again. He had made a lot of preparations for his new role as a guardian, but in the end he hadn´t thought what he should do, when Sasuke would get sick. He couldn´t handle this! He couldn´t even distinguish if a simple fever was dangerous or not!

The Jonin felt the boys forehead again and he was sure that the boy wasn´t alright. But what was he supposed to do in such situation? In the past weeks, he had learned to comfort and care for the boy. But he couldn´t handle a sick child.

He sat slowly up as he thought what he was supposed to do. Maybe this wasn´t dangerous at all, even he knew that children got sick, sometimes. But what if this was something serious?

He would rather made sure that there was nothing to worry.

"I´m back in no time." Kakashi said to the boy, as he stood up and left the room. A second later he came back with a jacket and Sasuke´s shoes in his arms.

He helped Sasuke into a sitting position and put him the shoes on after that he placed the jacket over the child´s shoulders.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked and he fought to keep his eyes open.

"To the hospital. A medic should´ve a look at you immediately." Kakashi answered and offered the boy a smile. Even if he was worried, stressed and exhausted.

Sasuke´s eyes widened at his guardians remark. "Hospital? But why?"

The last time Sasuke was in the hospital, were the days directly after the massacre. So, Kakashi could understand that the child wasn´t looking forward for it. But he had no other choice. It was obvious that something was wrong with Sasuke, maybe only the stress but he wanted to make sure that nothing serious was wrong with the Uchiha.

"You´re burning with fever all of the sudden. I want to make sure that this isn´t something serious."

"But I feel fine!" The boy protested. His voice still hoarse from his outburst earlier.

"You told me yourself that you´ve a headache." Kakashi remembered. "And you don´t look fine either."

"I don´t want to go there!" Sasuke snapped and regreted it immediatly as his head stung and he placed his hand against his forehead. "Ow..." He whimmered.

"You see, you´re not fine."

"But you´ll leave me there..."

The Jonin smiled behind his mask. He could understand well that the hospital was the last place where Sasuke wanted to be now, but Kakashi was worried, very worried. Maybe the events on the academy, the nightmare, all the grief once again were to much and began to affect the Uchiha´s health. That´s why he wanted the child examined as quick as possible.

"I won´t leave you there. I´m only worried because it seems you become sick. A medic will check on you and then we´ll go back home. Okay?" He explained in his usually gentle voice, which he had reserved for Sasuke.

Sasuke hesitated a long time before he finally nodded. He didn´t say anything as Kakashi picked him up once again and carried him the whole way. The child was tired and uncomfortable and maybe this was the reason why he didn´t protest any further. The boy laid his head on Kakashi´s shoulder, while the Jonin holded him protectively in his arms.

As they entered the hospital, Kakashi wasted no time and went straight to the reception desk. A young woman sat there and looked concerned at the little boy in his arms.

Kakashi explained everything and the woman advised him to follow her. She brought them to the surgercy and a moment later Shizune entered the room.

Shizune was a wellknown person in Konoha. She was an really skilled Medic Nin and a talented Kunoichi and she was specialisted with poision. Besides Kakashi had worked with her together on several missions.

"Kakashi what happened?" Shizune asked and her look wandered to the boy in his arms.

"He don´t feel well. I think he had fever..."

"Sat him down over there." She pointed to the examinationstable and Kakashi complied.

The little Uchiha fought with all his willpower to stay awake. Sasuke was tensed because Shizune was a stranger to him.

Shizune approached Sasuke and said. "Tell me what´s wrong little One."

Thr boy gave Kakashi a questioned look, but Kakashi smiled and nodded, in order to show him that this was alright and that Shizune wouldn´t harm him in any way.

The woman gave the boy a soft smile and Sasuke seemed to relax a little . No wonder, she was a really kind woman.

"My head hurts." He answered finally.

"Oh poor baby. Let´s have a look." She began to focus her Chakra in her palm and placed it gentle against Sasuke´s forhead. "If this hurt or you´re uncomfortable then tell me, understood?"

The Uchiha nodded and closed his eyes. The Jonin knew that the boy was exhausted and wanted to be at home but he was grateful that Sasuke had complied without any trouble. The little Uchiha was such an sweet child and it was so terrible that he suffered so much.

Shizune was one of this medics, whom could examinane and treat people only with her chakra. Only very talented Shinobi were capable of this skills and Kakashi knew the boy was in the best hands now.

After she controlled Sasuke´s heartbeat and his lungfunction, she turned to Kakashi. "It´s nothing serious. I think he is coming down with a simple cold or something like that."

Kakashi let out a sigh of relieve.

"But his temperature is a little bit to high and I think it´s the best if he stays overnight." She continued.

The Jonin saw how Sasuke´s eyes widened at that remark and his tiny body went stiff, once again.

"You said you wouldn´t leave me here!" The little Uchiha protested.

"And I´ll stand true to my word." Kakashi said as he stepped at Sasuke´s side. He stroke softly through the boy´s dark hair. "We´ll stay here together, okay?"

Sasuke replied nothing, he closed his eyes and leaned his head against Kakashi´s chest. The child was completly exhausted and needed rest. Kakashi was aware, that the boy wanted to be at home, rather than staying here. But that he would stay with him, seems to enough to let the boy relax a little bit. The Jonin felt the boy´s forehead and cheeks and had to admit that he was still burning with fever.

"Didn´t he need some medicine, or something?" Kakashi asked with raised eybrows.

"The fever is a natural reaction from his body. Mostly the fever will vanish from alone. But I would rather observe him for this night." Shizune smiled at them. "Let´s go, I´ll bring you two to the infirmary."

"But it´s only for one night." The little Uchiha said, as Kakashi picked him up, for the fourth time this day and carried him.

"It´s only for observation. I´m sure tomorrow you can leave again Sweetie." Shizune smiled kindly to the little boy in his arms, but Sasuke buried his face in Kakashi´s chest and didn´t reply.

The woman brought they both to a room with two beds inside, but Kakashi wouldn´t sleep anyway. He sat the Uchiha down on one of the beds and began to remove the boy´s shoes.

"I´ll come back later. Try to catch some sleep." She advised Sasuke, before she left the room.

Kakashi put the shoes to the side and sat down on the edge from the bed. "Time to sleep."

"I´m sorry, I cause you so much trouble." Sasuke blurted out."The entire day... I haven´t done anything but annoying you."

 _What is this boy thinking`?_ Kakashi thought. _He hadn´t done anything wrong. I feel sorry for him, because I haven´t seen how much he still suffered and I shouldn´t left him alone at the academy. It hurts me, so see him in so much pain and I wish I could take all this grief away from him. I was worried as he became sick all of the sudden. I had no plan what I should do. But in the end I won´t leave him alone again. It pains me, that you think you´re a burden for me, than this isn´t true._

The Jonin shook his head as he placed his hand gentle under Sasuke´s chin. "Sasuke look at me." He ordered softly and the boy did so. "You´ll never be a burden for me. Never. I´m really happy to have you in my life now. And I want to help you. I can understand how hard this is for you."

Sasuke nodded. "I... I couldn´t handle the academy today... I know you´re disappointed."

"No I´m not. It was my fault, because I should have known that your are not ready yet. Let´s forget today. Tomorrow will be another day." He said and helped the boy to lie down. "And try to sleep now. Your fever will vanish faster when you´re rested." He tucked the little ravenhaired boy in and patted him gentle on the head.

The little Uchiha closed his eyes but after a moment he opened them again and looked up at his guardians face. "Kakashi... The dream earlier... I´ve saw them... I mean my parents..."

"You don´t need to talk about that."

"But I want. I know I need to move forward... I ´ve understood that... It´s just... everytime when I think it´s getting better... "

"I know this feelings very well Sasuke. I believe I can understand you better than anyone else."

"So... you´re not angry?" The darkhaired boy muttered.

"Of course not. It was my fault, because I should have thought more carefully about your conditon. And I´m glad that you speak openly with me. After all we are a family now and it´s importent that we trust eachother, right?"

Sasuke didn´t answer. Even if he was on his limits and his little body was screaming for sleep, there was still one thing which bothered the child terrible. It seems he wasn´t entirely sure if he should share this "thing" with Kakashi too.

But Kakashi seems to notice that there were more in his mind. "What´s wrong? "

The resolve from the little Uchiha melted slowly away. He knew he could be open with Kakashi and he began to trust him every day a little bit more. "I... I was wondering, why I´m still alive... I mean, I know I´m weak but why couldn´t I die with my Mama and Papa?"

This was the most honest and painful reply he got from the child, since the boy was placed in his care. It was a good thing, that Sasuke began to talk to him about everything, but on the other hand, his words were so painful and it was difficullt to bear them.

 _Why I´m still alive?_ Sasuke asked. Kakashi had asked himself the same question, many times. He still remembered his talk with Itachi. How he begged him to take care of his younger brother. On this day he had never imaged that Itachi would kill his entire family. Only Sasuke was left alone.

 _Why couldn´t I die with my Mama and Papa?_ Sasuke asked and Kakashi wondered if maybe something happened between Itachi and the Clan, something that he and the rest of the village doesn´t know. But even if this was the case, it couldn´t be a apolegize for the massacre, only a explation.

But this were his thoughts. Thoughts he couldn´t and wouldn´t share with Sasuke. Not with this little boy, who lost his family in one night. Killed by his own older brother.

How could he explain this to Sasuke? The questions from the boy were reasonable. He would asked himself the same questions if he were on Sasuke´s place. How would Sasuke´s parents feel and how did he feel himself? Kakashi thought carefully before he gave the boy an answer. It would been an easy task for Itachi to kill his little brother, together with the rest of the clan. So why he didn´t?

Kakashi doesn´t know it and this time he decided that he would ask his heart. And his heart told him clearly that he was happy that Sasuke was alive. That he couldn´t bear the thought that the boy could be dead and that he didn´t want to think about that. The little Uchiha was here with him and he was gratful for that. Even if he had now so much things to worry and even if the task to care for such young an traumatized child was sometimes more as he could handle, he was glad nevertheless.

"Your parents wouldn´t want you to be dead Sasuke, neither I want this. They´ve loved you and they want you to be happy. They want you to be protected and to be safe. You´re their child and I believe that they are grateful that you´re still here. And I think the same. I´m glad that you´re with me and I would never regret my desicion to support you on your way. We are a family now and I can´t give you answers to all your questions. But someday, maybe we´ll find together the answers you were looking for." He remembered that he had told Sasuke similar words some weeks ago. But he would repeat them so often Sasuke needed to hear them.

A small smile appeared on Sasuke´s face. "Thank you."He mumbled. ,,I think I´ll try it with the academy again."

The Jonin smiled. "But only when you´re ready."

"Mmmh." He was to tired to say something else. Sasuke had hardly closed his eyes, as he falled into a deep sleep. Finally his mind could rest.

Somehow the talk between them had helped Sasuke. He had learned that he didn´t need to shoulder his burden alone and that Kakashi was there to help him to bear with everything. Kakashi felt relieved. He could tell, even it would always be a long and difficullt way, he was sure someday everything would be alright.

Sasuke needed him so much and he hoped he could always fullfill his promise to support the boy on his way. He wished with all his heart, that someday the Uchiha would learn to smile again. He could feel the connection between him and Sasuke and now, this child was his family. After all this years of solitude, Sasuke came in his life and changed everything to the better. And Kakashi hoped that he could help Sasuke to be better soon.

No matter how hard it was in the past weeks and no matter how hard it would be in the coming weeks, Kakashi knew there were no regrets. Even if he had still a lot to learn about children, he would do his best always and was optimistic that someday he and Sasuke would be able to leave all this pain behind.

 **Please be aware that english isn´t my language :) I hope the chapter is okay, nevertheless.**

 **Thanks for the review and I hope you´ll let me know what you think.**

 **:)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A New Beginning**

Sasuke laid his head back into his pillow, while he looked out of the window. His bed was placed directly before the window and so, the young boy had a optimum view outwards. He tried to sort out all the different thoughts and impressions he had experienced in the past weeks. He had left the hospital some days ago but he was still abit sick. His temperature was still a bit high and he suffered under a dry cough.

His guardian, Kakashi never left his side and cared for him, exactly like his mother did when she was alive. The silverhaired man always treated him kindly and gave him never the feeling to be a burden, not even now. He didn´t left his side at the night and he comforted him, when a coughing fit would arise and he was on the edge of crying. And Sasuke had to admit, that not even his own father would have done this for him.

Since the day at the academy last week, Sasuke began to question everything he went through and he began slowly to accept the fact that this apartment was his new home and that Kakashi was the only person left. His parents wouldn´t came back. Neither would someone else from his Clan. He needed to accept this but he wanted to cry, everytime he thought about it. But the child began to repress the tears. Crying wouldn´t bring his family back.

 _Boys don´t cry, because tears meaning weakness._ A voice in his head told him and sounded like his father.

 _But everyone needs to cry sometimes, or you´ll break at your misery._ This time he heard the soft and understanding voice from his mother.

The young boy realized that this words were really spoken by his parents some time ago. His father was always strong and inaccessible. He was an man with high principle. His father, the man whom taught him his whole life, to be proud of his clan and to honor the Uchiha name.

 _An Uchiha is strong, smart and controlled. Lose never the controll over your emotions._ He heard his father say and he had to fought against his tears as he remembered the man, whom he always admired.

His father would be disappointed with him, if he could see him the time since he passed away.

 _Someone, who is able to admit his own feelings and stands too his feelings is far more stronger as someone who closed everything in himself up._ He remembered, his mother told him once and he could hear her soft voice clearly.

His mother would be there for him. In her presence he could cry, scream or whatever he needed. But she wouldn´t be here anymore. The little Uchiha began to wonder what his parents would expect him to do.

While he was sure that his father would expect him to be strong and to bring honour too the Uchiha name, he wasn´t entirely sure what his mother would want. She was a really amiable person and his connection with her was always stronger as with his father.

His father taught him to honour his Clan, while his mother taught him how to find the right balance between the obligations and the possebility to find the own way.

 _Mama and Papa shared never the same opinions._ Sasuke thought. _Even I´ve noticed that._ That´s why he had always tried to satisfy both of his parents. But he was never successful in that, because his parents had always too different expections at him.

It was hard for the little boy, who could hardly understand all the mixed emotions he felt. He was not even eight years old yet. He wanted to cry but on the other hand he began slowly to understand that there wasn´t any parents and a clan anymore. It was only him left and Kakashi, whom he began to see more and more as a caregiver.

Unlike his parents, Kakashi didn´t seem to have any expections at him. He gave Sasuke time and didn´t mind if he cried or couldn´t handle everything and because of his guardian´s help, the boy could slowly handle the new situation.

In the past days, Kakashi had spoken very intensive with him. Sasuke realized that he still had an life which he was supposed to live. That he would destroy himself if he would continue like this and after all Kakashi promised him that he would never leave him alone no matter what.

Even if Sasuke didn´t fully understand everything Kakashi told him, he realized that all the grief made him sick. He barely made his through a day without crying. He suffered still horrible under the massacre but he grasped that he couldn´t continue like this.

His mother had always taught him that he needed to take good care of himself. If she could see him now, she would be disappointed.

He felt different feelings, everytime he thought at his parents. While still grief, fear and nostalgia were mostly there, he began to wonder what his family would think of him if they could see him now. Because he realized now, that he was the only one left from the Uchiha clan and somehow he knew that this would be a heavy burden for him. He was now the only Uchiha in Konohagakure but it doesn´t matter how much he tried displace this thought, the boy knew that somewhere beyond Konoha´s walls existed another Uchiha.

The person whom took everything away from him. His chest clenched painfully when he remembered at the once beloved and admired older brother. If Sasuke thought about this murder, he felt mixed feelings as well. On the one hand he felt hate and rage everytime he remembered this monster. But he felt a lot of pain too. He felt betrayed.

 _Why did he do that?_ Sasuke thought over and over again. _How could he do something like that to Papa and Mama? How could he do that to the entire Clan. Why did he do that to me?_ This questions were there, no matter how hard he tried not to think about it. Everytime he thought at Itachi, he remembered this terrible night. He felt the same fear and desperation like in this night.

And even if he was still so damned scared, he knew that he couldn´t accept the fact that this traitor ran free, unpunished for his crimes while his entire family...

Sasuke wasn´t enitre sure what he was supposed to do but he knew he wanted justice.

But for now he needed to get better first. Itachi was extremly strong, otherwise he couldn´t have eliminated the whole clan only by himself. And Sasuke wanted to be strong too. Never, should someone be able to treat him in such way again. And maybe... If he wasn´t that weak. Maybe he could have protected his parents.

This thought was nonsense, of course but for this sevenyears old boy wasn´t this thought too incorrect. He had lost everything and he was looking desperatly for answers. But at least he was now determined to move forward.

While Sasuke looked out at the window, Kakashi entered his room with a tray in his arms.

"How are you feeling?" Kakashi asked and it was the same question he always asked, since the boy became sick. He placed the tray on the nighttable and Sasuke noticed that he had brought the medicaments and a jar filled with water for him.

The little Uchiha looked u, straight into his guardian´s eye. "I´m feeling better." He answered sincerely.

"That´s great." The Jonin smiled and sat down. He grabbed the medicaments from the tray. He gave Sasuke a tablett and handed him the jar.

Sasuke swallowed the medicament without a fuss and drank the water in order to wash down the tablett. A moment later Kakashi placed a spoon filled with syrup in his mouth. The boy swallowed without a word of protest, even if it tasted terrible.

"Good job." Kakashi praised him and patted his head.

Sasuke gave a small smile as response.

He could remember,how his mother had always fought with him to gave him his medicaments. She would try to convince him with her kind voice to take his medicaments without a fuss and if this wouldn´t work, she would call his father, whom would threat him to take away his favourite toys if he wouldn´t coorperate.

He missed them.

Terrible.

But after everything what happened, what he went through he didn´t mind anymore to swallow medicine. What was this compared to the loss of his family?

Kakashi placed the spoon and jar back at the tray and asked. "Are you hungry?"

He shook his head. "Not now, but maybe later." Because, even if he wasn´t a big eater, in order to regain his strength he needed to eat.

"Alright. I want to cook some tomato soup later. How does that sound?" Kakashi was still smiling at him.

"That sounds great." Sasuke couldn´t help and let a small yawn escape him. The many thinking had exhausted him.

"You´re sleepy." His guardian said but it was merely a fact as an question.

"Maybe a little bit." The ravenhaired boy admited openly.

"Then you should catch some more rest. You still need it." Kakashi said with a concerned tone.

"Can you read aloud for me again?" Sasuke asked with hope in his dark eyes. This got some art of ritual for them in the past days. While Sasuke couldn´t fall asleep even sick, Kakashi came up with the idea to read for him. And it had worked.

Even if it was an simple childbook, it gave the boy the feeling that everything was alright. That everything was normal. Listen too the story helped him to calm down and to find rest.

"Of course." The Jonin said and grabbed the book which they read yesterday. Then he sat down nex to Sasuke again. The little Uchiha was leaning against the Jonin´s upperbody and Kakashi wrapped his arms around his tiny shoulders.

And Sasuke listened to the story. It felt comforting and let him forget everything. Even his nightmares became better, at least for the moment. Instead of the massacre, he dreamed now about brave Shinobi, whom were fighting against evil monsters.

In the reality, his own brother was an evil monster...

But for this moment it doesn´t matter and Sasuke was grateful for that. He realized that Kakashi had done so much for him, since he was placed into the man´s care. And everyday he began to care for him too. At least someone was still here and would look out for him. At least he wasn´t completely alone.

While he listened Kakashi´s reading the little boy´s eyelids became heavy until it became more and more of a struggle to keep his eyes open. He closed his eyes and soon he was soundly asleep.

Seven days later, Sasuke was well enough to make his second try at the academy. He felt uneasy but he wanted to go back to normal, go back to school like any other child in his age too. After breakfast he and Kakashi left their apartment. Like the last time the boy holded the older man´s hand. He felt a hint of panic as they approached the academy building but Kakashi gave him an encouraged smile and Sasuke calmed himself with the thought, that this time his guardian wouldn´t leave him alone.

Kakashi had promised him to stay with him at the academy as long Sasuke would need it. It was far more easy for the boy that way, because he knew that nobody would confront him with the Uchiha massacre. Probably his peers wouldn´t confront him with this anyway. Kakashi had told him, that Iruka had forbidden to bother him with that subject and had even set out penaltys for disobeying.

"Everyone wanted to make it easy for you." Kakashi had told him. "So give the other childrens a second chance, okay?"

Sasuke had nodded but in the end he wasn´t sure what to think of the other children. He envied them because they had the life he had lost forever but as long as they won´t bother him he hoped he could get along with them.

"Ready?" Kakashi asked as they stood before the big academy building.

The little Uchiha gulped, but nodded nevertheless. This time he was determined to make it through the day.

Before the academy building stood countless parents whom bid their goodbye to their children. Mostly too the smaller ones in the first or second age group. The older ones went alone to the academy.

Until now nobody bothered to look at them. Maybe because their looked like a father who would bring his son to the academy.

Although Sasuke was still in his first year at the academy, his parents had never brought him here. He went always alone, like one of the big kids.

 _Because this will help you to get independent._ His father used to say.

It had never bothered Sasuke at that time. The opposite was the case, because he had been proud that his parents thought he was capable of it.

But now was a different situation and he was glad that Kakashi was with him.

Nevertheless, the boy couldn´t hide the fact that he was still nervous.

Iruka expected them before his classroom. The teacher greeted them friendly and politely, like he did the last time. The brunette man inquired after Sasuke´s wellbeing before he opened the door and gave a sign too follow.

Sasuke swallowed again, but he entered the room bravely. Like the last time, the students sat already on their seats. The whole class observed them, in which Sasuke had the feeling that his peers more wondered about the weird looking silverhaired man.

The Uchiha boy sat down and Kakashi took his seat on the empty chair next to him.

Iruka started the lesson and this time Sasuke gave his best, to focus. As Iruka wrote some exercises at the blackboard, the boy tried his best to solve them. But he realized that he had missed alot because he had difficulties in solving them. Fortunately Kakashi sat right next to him. He offered his help and the boy was grateful for that.

After his explation, Sasuke wasted no time an began solving the exercises. He had to admit that he had actually fun in learning. It´s was a nice diversion after the past weeks.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder. "I see, you´re a little genius." He whispered.

Sasuke smiled happily. He had never heard that before and it made him happy. He was still abit tense, because he didn´t knew how the rest of the day would proceed but he was confident that with Kakashi at his side it wouldn´t be so bad. The Jonin´s presence gave him a feeling of savety.

And he was right. During the breaks nobody approached him, with excepting from Naruto Uzumaki, whom constantly tried to engage him into a conversation. At least the blond boy didn´t mentioned the massacre, (Because he didn´t knew, how he would handle this), but he was still annoying and so Sasuke tried his best to ignore this guy.

During the big break outdors on the schoolyard Sasuke sat, together with Kakashi, on a bench and ate his Bento box.

The rest of the day went smoothily too and the Uchiha was surprised how much he enjoyed to have something to do. It was really helpful in disstract him.

The last two hours were weapon practice and Sasuke was satisfield that he was still the top of the class in dealing with Kunai and shuriken. After all it was an successful day and the boy was glad that everything went so smoothly.

As he and Kakashi went home, after the acamdey had ended, Sasuke felt a huge relieve. After his first try he was so depressed and he was afraid. But now he had learned that it was sometimes better not to give up.

But he was aware that he wouldn´t have made it through the day without Kakashi.

Sasuke looked up at his guardian and grabbed a hold of his wrist. He was a very small child, barely reaching the height of Kakashi´s hips.

The Jonin stopped in his tracks as he noticed Sasuke´s grip.

"Thank you for today." The boy said.

Kakashi looked down, first he was surprised but then he smiled happily under his mask. It was obvious that Sasuke was on a better way now, ready to move forward and of course the Jonin was grateful for that.

"You don´t need to thank me Sasuke." Kakashi said. "I´ll be always there for you, whenever you need me."

And with that said, Kakashi holded Sasuke´s hand in his own and stroked with the other through his unruly hair, before they both continued their way home. In this moment Sasuke was ways too young to understand that the past wouldn´t let go so easely.

 **Thank you so much for the reviews!**

 **I love to see new reviews and I´m happy everytime you tell your opinion. It is really a great support. I know this Chapter is a bit short but I want to start the new begin now and I hope I could describe Sasuke´s mixed feelings. I want him to move forward but on the same time showing that he is still very young and can´t go over the massacre easily.**

 **Please let me know what you think and review! :-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**(Big thanks to XYZArtemis for Beta reading and overworking this chapter!)**

 **x x**

 **A good way**

Kakashi was stirring the food he was now attempting to cook. He was in a hurry, because in just a short amount of time, Sasuke would come home from school, and the white haired man hoped to have the meal complete by then. The jonin took the pan from the top plate and placed it to the side. After that he washed the rice and filled it into the rice cooker. He wasn't really a great cook, but after taking care of Sasuke for a couple of months, he had learned how to prepare simple meals.

He had just finished and was busy setting the table, when he heard the front door open, and, a moment later, the seven-year-old boy stood by the doorframe.

"Welcome home." Kakashi said as he placed the food on the table. "How was your day?"

"Okay. But I'm going to bring my bag to my room first." Sasuke answered.

"Alright. Wash your hands afterwards, though. Dinner is ready."

"I know that, so you don't need to tell me every time!" The little boy pouted as he walked away.

He chuckled to himself. Although Sasuke was only seven years old, he was a very well-mannered and independent child. The little Uchiha was very tidy. He took care of his own room without Kakashi's help and even helped him cleaning the dishes after dinner. Sasuke also did his homework without a fuss and even went to bed without any protest. But it wasn't a big surprise. After all, the Uchiha were well known for raising their children early on to be civil and self-sufficient. And since Sasuke was the second son from the Uchiha clan leader, he was sure the boy had received a careful upbringing.

His thoughts were interrupted as the boy entered the kitchen. The little one sat down and waited patiently for Kakashi to do the same, before his small fingers grabbed the chopsticks, which were right next to his plate.

"Do you like it?" The now unmasked Jonin asked, after the child took the first bite.

Sasuke chewed the food and swallowed before he answered. "It's okay."

He was glad that Sasuke liked the food. It wasn't really a telling response but the Uchiha wasn't a very talkative child either. Kakashi tried his best to be at home as much as he could, but since he was back on duty, he sometimes had too much work to do. On these days, he bought dinner from restaurants near the apartment. But Sasuke did a really great job and didn't make any trouble when he left him alone for hours.

On school days, the boy spent almost the entire day at the academy anyways. But on the weekend, Kakashi always had a bad feeling when he left the child alone the entire day. Perhaps it was just an overreaction since he was still worried about the boy.

One month had passed since Sasuke's first day at the academy. A lot had happened since then, yet Kakashi had the feeling that the raven was slowly getting over the pain. He knew there was still a long way to go, but it was obvious that Sasuke began to move forward, and, right now, the young Uchiha was on a good path.

Kakashi had accompanied Sasuke the first time to school, but Sasuke had soon got used to it once again, and the jonin was able to go back to his job. The first genin team, which the Hokage had assigned him, was a total let down. The three boys had just graduated, but Kakashi had already asked himself if the examiner and teachers were insane to give such spoiled, selfish and unfit brats a Konoha headband and call them shinobis.

In the process to get the bells, it wasn't their abilities that were the issue: what was far worse was the fact that the boys hadn't even the slightest sense of teamwork. And if that wasn't bad enough, they did everything and anything to sabotage each other, only to present themselves in a better light. He let them fail without a second thought and didn't feel sorry for them.

After that flop, the Hokage gave him a position in Konoha's security division. He had a lot of paperwork to do, but at least the post allowed him to stay (mostly) inside the village.

Soon after getting the job, both Kakashi and Sasuke found some sort of routine they did every day. Because Kakashi wanted Sasuke to have his focus on the academy, he managed the household and everything else that could go along with it. He wasn't the type who would torment a poor child with unnecessary chores when he had already spent the day at school.

Although that meant there was more work for him to do, Kakashi didn't care. He knew a part of Sasuke's childhood died with the Uchiha clan, but exactly for that reason he wanted to let Sasuke grow up sheltered. While most children would jump at the chance to not do chores, Sasuke, of his own free will, began to help him with the household chores.

"You should also eat the fish." Kakashi pointed out, after he recognized how Sasuke was eating his tomatoes but shoved the fish and rice to the side.

"I'm not that hungry..."

"But if you want to grow up tall and strong, you need to eat." He said reasonably.

Sasuke sighed, but eventually began to eat the rice and fish as well.

The jonin smiled warmly at the child. The boy was still a poor eater, but Shizune had come up with a great idea: instead of filling Sasuke's plate with an excess amount of food, he should simply serve a minor portion, in order to not to overtax the boy. And, to Kakashi's relief, worked.

Indeed, Sasuke ate very slowly and sometimes needed some words of motivation, just like now, but, in the end, Sasuke usually finished his dinner, and, after everything the child had went through, this was a huge advance.

"Did something special happen today?" Kakashi knew that the raven haired boy did not talk very much and that it mostly came from the boy's own insecurity. But, in rare instances, Sasuke opened up. And in such moments, he saw an ordinary seven-year-old boy. But then came the days where he suffered terrifying nightmares and his dark eyes were full with pain and emptiness. On such days, Kakashi realized that there was still a long way road ahead of them. But he was confident that they would made it together.

"The lessons were boring. I already knew most of them." Sasuke's brainy but childish voice interrupted his thoughts.

Being as observant as he was, he had already noticed that the boy was a very smart kid. He smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Is that so? So does that mean that you can handle your homework without my help from now on?"

The Uchiha smiled lightly and Kakashi felt a warm feeling in his chest. He was so grateful for every emotion Sasuke showed, and whenever the little one smiled he felt happy.

"Of course! I can handle all my homework without your help. But I don't have any today."

"Oh, that's unusual. Normally Iruka hands some sort of exercise after class." Kakashi was visibly surprised.

"He usually does, but today he let us get away without homework because the class delivered a good result in a test we wrote a while ago."

"And how did you do?" He asked interested.

A smile appeared on Sasuke's face. This time it was a real smile with the innocence only children can radiate. "I got the best grades! Even Sensei Iruka was surprised. He promised me if I continued to deliver such good results, he would teach me some more difficult things, which the others aren't ready for yet." The boy announced proudly.

"Really? That's great." The silver haired shinobi smiled back at his ward. "I'm very proud of you. You're doing an exceptional job."

A faint blush mark appeared on Sasuke's cheeks. Like any other kid, he enjoyed it when someone praised him. And, in the Uchiha's case, it was still very important to pay attention to every aspect of his life and compliment him on even the small things.

The jonin felt proud that he was the one who was there for the child after everything that had happened. Each day that passed the more he got used to his role as a guardian, and he had to admit that he couldn't image his life without Sasuke anymore. Maybe he realized only now how lonely and empty his life was before he met Sasuke. They began to form a bond with each other and Kakashi hoped that someday, they would grow into a true family.

"Can you train with me too?" The little Uchiha suddenly asked. Kakashi hadn't expected this question and he couldn't hide his surprise. It seemed that Sasuke noticed as well, because he quickly added, " I mean you're a jonin and I'm sure I can learn a lot from you..."

The boy's voice suddenly sounded dubious, as if he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to ask him. He recognized Sasuke's pleading and hopeful eyes and honestly, who could be so cruel to refuse a request from such an adorable child? Although he was an elite Jonin, he wasn't immune to such cuteness. And besides, it was a great thing that Sasuke asked him to spend more time with him; their bond could only become stronger. And either way, it was also a good sign because it meant Sasuke was trying to get used to a normal life again.

"Of course I'll train you." Kakashi said.

"Really?" Sasuke cried enthusiastically. Perhaps he hadn't expected that Kakashi would agree. "Thank you!"

"There is no need to thank me Sasuke." Kakashi told him. "Of course I'll help you with whenever you need. And I'm happy to spend some time with you as well."

"Can we start right now?"

Kakashi wrinkled his forehead. "You know... I think it's better that I train you exclusively on the weekend. I mean, you've done more than enough training at the academy, and if you overdo it, you could become sick. Your body needs rest, especially at your age."

"But we haven't done anything strenuous today! The entire day was boring!" Sasuke argued. "I understand that we can't train together if I had really a hard day at school, but today was really nothing and I don't have any homework either."

Kakashi sighed in defeat. "Fine. But today will be the only exception. I don't mind training you, but normally we'll reserve this for the weekend, okay?"

"Okay." The boy nodded.

"I'll do the dishes then, while you sit down and rest until I'm finished."

"But if I help you, you'll finish faster." Sasuke said as he grabbed his plate and carried it over to the sink. "You can clean the dishes and I'll dry them."

He couldn't remember seeing Sasuke in such high spirits before. In this moment, there was no hint of the traumatized and broken boy he had been only a couple of weeks ago. Sasuke seemed so happy that Kakashi would do everything in order to see the child always like this. Maybe the worst was really behind them.

After a quarter of an hour, they were finished and headed out to one of the open trainings grounds. The weather was nice as well and Kakashi agreed that it was a really good idea to spend the rest of the day outdoors.

Kakashi decided it would be the best to help Sasuke with kunai and shuriken training. This was a standard lesson for every child Sasuke's age so that when they were older, they could move on to more devastating attacks using the said weapons.

Sasuke was already very skilled. He managed to hit almost every bullseye with his kunai. Almost, every one. Seeing this, Kakashi decided to give him some advice: he should focus a bit more at the target and try not to rush through.

Although very talented, was Sasuke not a wonder child like Itachi or Kakashi himself had been. Such children were never really kids, because they could do things some adults weren't even able to do, and Kakashi was thankful that Sasuke wasn't such a prodigy.

Perhaps the small bit of childish innocence Sasuke still owned would help him to overcome everything that had happened someday. For him personally, Sasuke was a little wonder. Because the boy managed everything so easily and with such gusto, he was infinitely proud of him. It might still be too early to tell, but he was sure that Sasuke would overcome his past. He was such a strong boy, after all. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Itachi let him alive.

"Look!" Sasuke cried. "I did it"

He looked at his ward. The boy had hit every target directly into the bullseye. The masked jonin smiled brightly under his mask. "You really are little genius, aren't you?"

"It's really simple." The raven haired child replied. "Show me something else!"

Kakashi laughed and began teaching Sasuke how to use weapons effectively in order to set traps. This was definitely something new, because the boy hung onto every word he spoke. Kakashi helped him to prepare his very first trap and Sasuke practiced hard to learn it perfectly.

It would be some time until the boy would be ready to perform such moves on his own and with the appropriate swiftness, but for the first try, the Uchiha did a great job.

They trained until sundown. He hadn't noticed how much time had passed, but it was definitely time to go home. The raven was very exhausted and he made no protest as Kakashi carried him piggyback the entire way home.

Sasuke was already asleep when they entered the apartment. The jonin wasted no time as he brought the little one into his bed. As he tucked the boy in, Sasuke sleepily opened his eyes.

"Thank you, Kakashi. It was very fun..." He mumbled and yawned.

Kakashi smiled. It was wonderful to hear such words especially after the past month. He now knew Sasuke was on a good path and he would do everything to continue this. For the past couple months he had been responsible for the young Uchiha and he already knew that he would give his life for the child.

"Good night, little one." The jonin whispered and stroked his hair. But Sasuke didn't hear him because he was already sound asleep.

 **First, I would like to thanks for the review :) Like always it's a huge support and I'm always happy to get some feedback.**

 **To this chapter, I know it's really short but I'm planning to make the next chapter longer again. I wanted to show how things begin to turn out during Kakashi's and Sasuke's everyday life. I want to show that Sasuke is still a sevenyears old child and still not the cold avenger.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Troublesome**

Sasuke tried to block out the loud laughter and screams, as he focused his eyes on the book he was actual reading. He was sitting of a bench which was placed on the rim of his schoolyard and the other children around him, caused too much noise, that he found it very difficult to focus on his reading. It was a reader about weapon knowledge, which he persuaded Kakashi to bought him as they went to the bookstore last week. According to his guardian the content was still too difficult for him to understand, but Sasuke could be very convincingly if he really wanted something.

He was reading a lot in the last time. On the one hand, he enjoyed it, on the other hand he could appropriate himself a good knowledge, which was requisite for an prospective shinobi. Plus it helped him to catch up at the academy and after some more weeks, he had earned the title "top of the class" again, which he didn´t recognized without pride.

However, maybe his guardian wasn´t entirely wrong, when he tried to dissuade him to read this book. Already the prolog was so dry written, that he had to admit that he wasn´t able to understand the most. But he wouldn´t be an uchiha, if he wouldn´t try at least. Since it wasn´t the first time he had read a book, where he only understood the half of it, he was determined to follow through until the end.

His stoic determination was probably his most prominet character property. Even as a toddler, he had known exactly what he wanted and if he had troubles with it, he had tried until he could do it. He would always stay like this, not matter how much this past month had changed him apart from that.

So the boy tried his utmost to savvy, what the book told him about different weapons and the possibilities in using them effectively. It would be a great enrichment to appropriate a good knowldege about this subject, since Kakashi had already showed him some different types of shuriken, in their last training session.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn´t focus on the lines. The noise made it impossible for him to learn properly. A loud laughter, only some metres away, drove his attention to the cause of his discomfort. He frowned as he recognized Naruto, who was standing some feet away with a softball in his arms.

Obviously he had found someone whom would bother to play with him after all. This was unusal, normally the blonde was always left alone, despite Naruto´s huge efforts to integrate into the other kid´s games. Which was not least, because of the blond´s habit of pranking everyone, not even the teachers were safe from the boy´s mischievous ideas. He had probably pranked already the enitre school, expect for Sasuke, whom would beat the blonde to a pulp if he would ever dare it to try.

Anyway, the most of his peers were annoyed with Naruto´s boisterous art and Sasuke suspected that this was the reason why the Uzumaki wasn´t very popular at school. Of course the Uchiha perceived the rest of his peers annoying either, but at least the others were able to shut their mouth during classes. But Naruto couldn´t even do this.

And apparently gave Naruto his sudden interaction with the others only more reasons to be loud and annoying. Honestly, the entire schoolyard was filled with noisiness but Naruto´s voice drowned everything.

The blonde laughed again, as he kicked the softball as far he could. Kiba Inuzuka ran after it, but he wasn´t able to catch it in time. Of course Naruto´s triumphant yelling went on his nerves. Kiba was almost equally annoying like the blonde was and Sasuke had never liked him. No wonder he and Naruto get along well. What he hadn´t expected, was the fact that Ino and Sakura were integrated in the boy´s game too. Normally the girls made different things during big break. Mostly chasing after Sasuke and ask him whether he want to play or if he want to share lunch with them. Of course he always tried to avoid this stupid girls, but they could be very irritating.

His eyes were fixed for a moment on the four other children. They were laughing and chasing after the ball, in which Naruto had surprisingly the upper hand. He was faster then the others and not even Kiba´s little pup could follow the blonde´s fast movements yet. Naruto kicked the ball away again, this time a lot farther. Kiba went to get it, while Ino and Sakura began fussing over Akamaru. Maybe this was the reason, why the girls suddenly interacted with Kiba. They want to cuddle the little dog.

Naruto was jumping of one leg, while Sakura picked Akamaru up and pushed him against her chest. Sasuke couldn´t help and felt a sting in his heart. Everytime when he looked at the other children, he couldn´t deny that he envied them for their carefreeness.

Not long ago, he was one of them. He had played of the schoolyard and was happy. When he entered the academy, almost one year ago, his father had advised him not to meddle himself in unnecessary games with his peers, but rather to focus exclusively on his studies. But being only a little boy, he had mostly forget his father´s words as soon the bell rang for the break.

Sasuke was still a child, he knew it. When he couldn´t sleep, without Kakashi would read him bedtime story or when he gave in the urge to ran the way home, instead of walking properly. He still liked to jump on his bed, when he was bored or he even caught himself sometimes, by talking and hugging his stuff dinosaur, which his mother had present him to his fourth birthday. But nevertheless everything had changed and this moments getting rare.

Beside the urge, to behave like a normal child, he felt that this wasn´t alright. He couldn´t sort out all this feelings yet but somehow he knew that he was now shouldering a heavy burden. The boy was Konohas last uchiha and that means that he needed to present his name in the best possible way. And his instinct told him, that he needed to focus on his training and education more than anything else. Because everytime he remembered his family, he knew that somewhere out there, was still the man who had done this to him. And he was still unpunished for his actions. As the last Uchiha, it was his responsibility to deliever justice for his clan, even if he wasn´t aware yet what exactly it means. He only knew it was his task.

While he was too deep in his thoughts, Sakura had noticed him, because his eyes were still staring at them.

"Sasuke- kun!" She cried happily an ran towards him, closely followed by Ino.

The Uchiha´s eyes narrowed slightly, as he noticed the two girls in front of him. Maybe the two had understood his look as an sign that he wanted to talk to them, or somthing like that. Just great, now he could see how he would get rid of them again.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" The pinkhaired girl asked him politely and bend down to have a better look on his book.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He didn´t even know whatever he should answer or if it´s better to simple ignore them, but before he could figure that out, Ino found the advantage to grab his book, before he could react. She holds the tome in the air and observed it with her bright blue eyes.

"Wow!" Ino said thrilledly. "You´re so smart!"

Sakura nodded in agreement. "You can even read books, which we won´t go through before the fourth school year."

He wasn´t sure whatever, the girls only wanted to flatter him or if they really meant it. However he wasn´t very eager to talk with them and the fact that his brain couldn´t even progress the half of the books content, didn´t less to brighten his mood.

"Sakura-chan, Ino-chan what are you doing?" Came the loud yell from Naruto, whom was running towards them.

Oh no, this was going more and more trouble. The last thing he wanted now, was to interact with the academys biggest troublemaker. But a moment later, the said boy stood in front of him and glared down at him, before he turned to the girls again.

"Hey, we´re in the middle of the game. What are you doing here?" The Uzumaki complained.

"We´re out now." Ino declared and looked back at the book cover, still impressed with the fact, how smart Sasuke was. Sakura agreed in every aspect and ignored Naruto completely. Of course the loud blonde was not very happy about this fact.

"You can´t drop out that simple!" He argued.

The girls were glaring at the blonde. Sasuke had already noticed, that the girls weren´t always this gentle and that their could transform into true beasts if they wanted. And because Naruto was anyway not very popular, he was sure the annoying girls wouldn´t hold back.

"Naruto you´re annoying. We´re talking with Sasuke-kun now, so stop bothering us!" Sakura snapped.

Before he got involved into this stupid argument any further, he stood up. "Would you mind to hand me my book back?" He asked calmy and stretched his hand out, to receive the said item. He would look for another hang out place, for the left breaktime. Hopefully a place, where he would find privacy.

Ino beamed, obviously because he had directly talked to her. Sasuke wasn´t sure if she had a problem with her ears, but he had nothing said to being happy about.

Sakura pouted and stepped before Ino. "Sasuke-kun!" She yelled with her shrill voice. "Would you like to share your food with me?"

He had heard this question already countless times and since he had always refused her request, he wondered why she couldn´t understand that his answer was no and would always stay no.

"What are you trying to do?" Ino yelled angrily at her friend. "Sasuke-kun is mine, so stop trying to take him away from me."

 _That´s really enough,_ he thought sourly. This stupis girls wouldn´t listen to him anyway, so he simple grabbed the edge of his book and pulled it away from Ino. The blonde girl looked up shocked.

"Sasuke-kun, what´s the matter..." She tried but the Uchiha ignored her and began to walk away.

He could hear, how the girls broke into an argument now and he was glad that he could escape the scenario.

"Where do you think you´re going? Mister high and mighty!" Naruto stepped in front of him and blocked his way.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously. He couldn´t believe that this jerk would dare to provoke him again. For some reason he hold a bit of a grudge against Naruto. The Uzumaki wasn´t a good association for an Uchiha and he always tried to avoid this guy. But somehow the blonde managed to provoke him constantly. Honestly, this guy had some big problems and his huge attetion complex, was only one of them.

"Step out of my way." Sasuke growled, his voice unmistakable angry.

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted and dared to step even closer. "Do you think you can destroy everything with your grumpy attitude and then act high and mighty again? We all had fun, until you lured the girls, because you were envy!"

"Excuse me?" He asked stunned and angry at the same time. "The stupid cows decided to bother me from alone! I would never call out for this chickens, even if they were the last persons of the world! They are annoying, just like you!"

Naruto snorted. "I´ve noticed how you´ve observed us the whole time. You´re angry because nobody wants to play with such an stuck-up jerk like you!"

"That comes just from you? The only reason why you didn´t stood alone today, was because they had pity on you. Who wants interact with the stupidest and brainless person of the entire world. Deadlast!" Sasuke had forgotten about his decision not to act childish, if this Naruto wanted a fight. Then he could get one.

"How did you call me? You bastard?" The blonde was furious, he stepped even closer and Sasuke knew the boy would soon attack. He didn´t care. This idiot was nothing he couldn´t handle.

"I´m just pointing out facts. And now step out of my way!"

"Make me!" And with that Naruto lunged at him. He dodged without trouble, he wanted directly hit back, but suddenly the bell rang and announced the end of todays break.

He stopped in his tracks. Normally he wouldn´t break up a confrontation this simple, but being late to Sensei Iruka´s lesson was not an option for him. It would not only be un- Uchiha like coming late, what he feared more was the lecture he would receive in front of the entire class. No thanks, he could abstain of such an embarrassment. So he shoved Naruto to the side and stepped past the blonde.

The blonde called at him and even insulted him, but Sasuke decided to ignore him. There would come more possibilites to prove Naruto, how much better he was. So he hurried inside the building and sat immediately on his place, after he entered his classroom.

For once even Naruto was punctually. He asumed it was, because the blonde followed him only some steps away, in order to provoke him further. Thankfully sensei Iruka was already there, so the Uzumaki had no other choice as to drop the idea, to continue their fight. Sensei Iruka could be very fearsome when angry and even Sasuke wanted to avoid to be the target of the man´s anger. And Naruto was even the man´s adoptive son or something like that, surely he knew better than to act out in front of him.

The rest of the day went peaceful, which Sasuke was grateful for. The lesson was boring and he passed the time, with drawing pictures of an empty sheet paper, after he had finished the current assignment. After the unpleasant incident with Naruto, the day seemed to get better nevertheless. The last two teaching hours fell out and so school ended today already at three o´clock pm, instead the usual time five o´clock pm.

Sasuke was happy. It was seldom that there could leave this early and he wanted to spent the donated freetime carefully. Maybe Kakashi would´ve time to train with him a bit. This would definitely save his day. He stuffed his books and folders in his bag, before he hurried to the door.

"Sasuke wait a minute." Sensei Iruka suddenly called out and the little Uchiha had a bad feeling about this.

"Yes sensei?" He asked, after he stepped back and stood in front of his teacher.

The brunette teacher grabbed a envelope from his table and handed it over to Sasuke. "This is for Kakashi. I can rely that you´ll give it to him?"

He was really taken a back. Why gave his sensei him a letter for his guardian? He hadn´t done anything wrong. Was it because of his confrontation with Naruto? But if Iruka knew, than he would reprimand them for sure, before he would hand him a letter for Kakashi.

"Iruuuka! Hurry up, I´m starving!" Naruto´s whinning interrupted his thoughts. Of course this idiot waited for his guardian. Sasuke rolled his eyes. The blonde´s presence was enough reason to leave as fast as possible. So he nodded and promised to give Kakashi the letter, as soon as he would arrive home, before he hurried out of the academy building.

After he was gone a bit, he couldn´t help but stared at the envelope in his hand. He was closed and Sasuke wasn´t supposed to open it but he was really curious. It never happened before that he was sent with a letter home, only troublemaker got that privilege. But he was an Uchiha. His grades were perfect and he hadn´t done anything wrong either. So about what wanted Iruka inform Kakashi?

The sevenyears old boy wasn´t really fond of surprises and if he had learned one thing in his short life, than that surprises were never a good thing. And because, he wasn´t really looking forward to be completely clueless, he decided it would be the best thing, to have a look on that mysteriously letter at first. He was sure Kakashi wouldn´t mind anyways and so he opened the envelope without a second thought. He unfolded the letter and began reading his sensei´s message.

 _Dear Kakashi._

 _First of all, I want to congratulate you for the exceptional job you´re doing with Sasuke. I´m very happy that he is a lot better now and I can promise you, that I´ll continue to look out for him and show sincerely interest in his development. Additionally, I want to offer your both my help, if there is something you need._

 _But as his teacher, I´m of course concerned about Sasuke´s progress at the academy as well. His grades are excellent and he is doing a great job in his studies as well. He is always attentive during classes and he is working fast and meticulously. However, although he is obvously on a good way, there is still something which bothered me a bit. Sasuke is isolate from the rest of his peers and I´ve slowly the feeling that he becomes a loner._

 _He spends his breaks always alone and don´t bother to interact with the other children. He don´t play with them, neither is he playing alone. I can understand that he has difficultis to open up to others after everything, but I´m afraid that this behaviour will cause harm to his development and his personality._

 _While Sasuke makes himself to an outsider, Naruto has the same problem only with the difference that he longed for friends. But since you know the circumstances, I don´t need to explain you the reason for his problems. Because I´m concerned about both, Naruto and Sasuke, I would like to try to befriend the both with eachother. It would be good for both of them, and help them to collect some important experience in friendship. You know as well as me, how importan friendship is and how much especial children needs it._

 _If you agree, I would like to invite you and Sasuke on saturday afternoon for dinner in my home. This woud be a great opportunity for the boys to spend some time outside the academy with eachother and honestly I could need someone to talk too. All the stress with my students and my role as Naruto´s guardian were sometimes stressful. Maybe you think the same, but I would like to have a nice chat with an average person again. Children are great but sometimes you simple needs a break. However I would be really happy, if you agree. Please let me know your answer on time._

 _Iruka_

Sasuke´s eye twitched in anger as he flew over the letter. He couldn´t believe, how his sensei dared to write Kakashi such nonsense. First of all, he didn´t like the thought that Iruka reported everything to Kakashi and second, he found that his development wasn´t his sensei´s buisness. The idea that his guardian and sensei exchanged informations about him, behind his back made him angry. But this was probably something adults always did and the children couldn´t undertstand the meaning of that.

What was far more worser, was the fact that Iruka indeed proposed him and Naruto to befriend with eachother. Alone the thought drove him crazy. The entire day, he had only wanted to get away from that stupid idiot and now he should spend even his weekend with him? Never! He would rather spend his saturday with Ino and Sakura as with this dumbass. Maybe Naruto´s stupidity was even contagious, who knows that? And he wasn´t really looking forward to lose his brain cells.

No, if sensei Iruka really thought he would deliever this to Kakashi, than he was crazy. He had made up his mind. Without a second thought, he began to tear the letter apart, until there was only a bunch of snipped, which Sasuke thrash into the next garbage can.

Satisfield with his solution, the little boy continued his way home. He even ran the rest way, because he hoped that Kakashi would be home and would train with him later. His hopes were crashed, when he arrived home.

Indeed Kakashi was there, but the jonin was obviously in hurry. The box with purchased noodle soup one kitchen table, was enough prove that his guardian had duty tonight. Sasuke hated the evenings were he was alone at home. He felt always alone and had difficultis while falling asleep. But he was born into a shinobi clan and Sasuke knew that this wasn´t something you could choose. The shinobi life was shaped with obligation fulfillment and hard work and the boy was aware of this.

Besides, he had to admit that Kakashi really tried everything to spend as much time as possible with him. The jonin virtually spoiled him with attention and Sasuke loved him for that. He had really bonded with him after all this month and after everything what happened, he was glad to have him.

He was disappointed nevertheless. But as he noticed in how much hurry the older man was, he felt sorry for being selfish. Kakashi enquired shortly after his day, before he told him that he needed to go to the store, because they were out of food. Sasuke saw it as the perfect opportunity to spend some time with his guardian nonetheless and so he decided that he would accompany him.

The most grocerys were placed into the centre of the village. It wasn´t very far from their apartment, but still a fifteen minute walk away. Sasuke enjoyed the small stroll. He told Kakashi from his day and like always the jonin listened to him with sincere interest. They reached the shopping mile too fast for Sasuke´s liking but at least he could help to pick up the needed food.

While they bought milk, bread, rice and eggs in the market, they went for the fish, meat and vegetables too another store. Kakashi always bought here the vegetables, it was a bit more expensive than somewhere else, but the quality was better there.

Sasuke observed how the shop owner placed the potatos, cabbage and cucumbers in a bag. Of course they bought a lot of tomatos too, which he carried himself. The last thing they needed was fish and meat and Kakashi guided him to another store. The silverhaired jonin bought one kilo chicken meat and two kilo salmon, before they were finally finished. Although the uchiha had actually fun.

He grabbed two tomatos out and handed the rest to Kakashi, whom was carrying the grocery bags. Sasuke sucked on one of his tomatos as he walked slowly right next to Kakashi. He was a bit sad, that the jonin would leave for work as soon he had brought the purchased home, but there wasn´t really another option.

He had just finshed his first tomato, as he suddenly froze in his tracks as he recognized Iruka only some metres away from them. Suddenly he remembered the letter he had thrashed and the little boy knew he needed to prevent that his teacher and guardian would meet.

"Kakashi, we´ve forget something!" The ravenhaired uchiha suddenly explained.

The Jonin raised his eyebrow, but before he could answer, Iruka already spotted and rushed towards them.

"Kakashi, how are you?" The brunette greeted kindly and Sasuke rolled his eyes again, because he had read this letter and knew how deceitful his sensei really was.

"I´m fine, thank you." The silverhaired guardian answered. "How are you?"

"Thanks, I´m fine too. It´s great that I meat you two here. Did you read my letter?"

"What letter?" Kakashi was confused and Sasuke bit his lip.

"I handed Sasuke an important letter, which he should deliever to you immediately." The teacher wondered aloud.

Sasuke wanted to say, that this piece of bumph wasn´t important but full with nonsense, but he was smart enough to keep quiet. Also was Iruka his sensei, and it would be disrespectful to talk to him in such way.

Kakashi looked at him questioningly and he shrugged with his shoulders. "I´ve forget it, because you was in such hurry." The boy said innocently.

"Ah, you´re right." The silverhaired adult agreed.

"That´s not a problem." Iruka smiled and Sasuke knew what was coming. And then, his teacher began to repeat his invitation. He talked the same nonsense, he wrote already in the letter, except for some sentences, Sasuke probably shouldn´t hear.

"But we haven´t time on saturday!" The uchiha argued, even before his guardian came up with an answer. He had to save the situation. "You´ve promised me to train with me on saturdays, remember?"  
"Yes I remember." Kakashi chuckled and even Iruka smiled. The ravenhaired boy wasn´t sure what was funny at his statement. "But Sasuke we don´t need the whole day for your training. We´ll train after our visit by Iruka."

"I´m happy to hear that." Said Iruka and smiled even more than before. But Sasuke´s eyes widened, because he couldn´t believe how stupid his guardian was, to agree. Didn´t he sensed that Sasuke wanted him to refuse the invitation. And he was supposed to be an elite jonin! The two adults exchanged brief words, until Kakashi finally bid his goodbye, because he was really in a hurry now.

As soon his teacher was out of view, Sasuke wasted no time and demanded answers from Kakashi. "Why did you accept?"

"Because it would be rude, to refuse an invitation from your teacher." The jonin merely said. "Maybe he want to talk with me about your progress at the academy."

"My progress is fine!" He snapped and didn´t care that he showed his guardian a complete different side from himself. "He only wants to talk about nonsense!"

"My, my... This was very rude Sasuke." Kakashi scolded lightly.

But it was the truth. Since he had already read Iruka´s letter and knew the true purpose of his teacher. Alone the thought let his mood further darken. "I don´t care! I don´t want spend my weekend with this stupid Naruto! He is already annoying enough!"

"It´s only a visit for some hours."

"But I don´t want to go there!" He protested and stomped his foot.

"I´ve already accepted his invitation." The jonin said and continued to walk.

Sasuke ran after him and squeezed the tomato in hand that he felt how the fruit began to burst. "You can tell him that you suddenly get a mission and that we can´t come because of that."

"This is a lie and lying is never an acceptable thing."

His mother had already told him that countless times and Sasuke wondered why the adults made such an fuss about this. It´s not as if adults would never lie, or not?

"But I don´t want to go there!" He ran before Kakashi and glared up at him.

"And I´ve already accepted. I´m sorry Sasuke but we need to appreciate Iruka´s kindness. He did really alot for you in the past weeks. You should know that. It´s only a short visit, I´m sure you can pull yourself together and try to get along with Naruto for some hours."

Why was it so difficult for Kakashi to understand, that he didn´t even wanted to get along with Naruto? This blonde guy was the biggest jerk of the entire world and Sasuke hated him. This was the reason why he was really angry now. He throw his tomato to the ground and yelled at his guardian angrily, "I don´t care if you´ve accepted! I don´t spend my freetime with that jerk!"

He took a deep breath and realized suddenly that he went too far. He looked at the ground to his half bursted tomato and he noticed how some people looked at him with lack of understanding. The boy feared suddenly Kakashi´s reaction. He was an adult and his guardian too, sure he would be very angry now. His parents had always taught him, that he had to respect the olders and when an adult told him something, he had to do it without question. He lowered his head and was sure that he would receive a firm scolding now. His parents would´ve reprimand him and so would the rest of his clan. Even sensei Iruka wouldn´t let him get away with such behaviour. But the only thing he heard was a light chuckle.

Sasuke looked up and realized that his guardian wasn´t angry, but amused by his outburst.

"Who had thought, that you can be such a brat, hmm?" Kakashi said, still very amused. "There I thought you´re such a quiet child. But I´m happy that you still can surprise me."

Sasuke blushed noticeable and lowered his head again. He felt suddely totally ashamed, as he realized how ridiculous his little tantrum was.

"But I think next time, I´ll let you eat your tomatos rather at home. With your temper it´s sure a good solution, don´t you think so?" Kakashi pointed to the destroyed fruit in the dirt and the boy blushed even more.

"I´m sorry..." He mumbled apologetic.

"It´s alright but please let´s head home now. I´m already late and really need to hurry now." Kakashi said. "We can discuss the matter tomorrow again, but for now let it be, okay?"

"Okay." He agreed for now. Even if he was glad that Kakashi wasn´t angry, Sasuke was still not eager to meet with Iruka and Naruto. Maybe when Kakashi was willing to talk with him again, he could convince him to cancel the planned visit. But for now he was quiet and headed with his guardian home.

 **Thanks for the reviews :) It´s makes me always happy to read your opinions.**

 **I wanted to show in this chapter Sasuke´s way back to a normal life, even if there will come still chapters where the past tormented him.**

 **Please let me know what you think and review ( Of course criticism is welcome as well, especially for my spelling and grammer)**

 **:-)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A chaotic encounter**

The rest of the week passed too fast for Sasuke´s liking. Normally he would look forward to the weekend, after all he could plan his entire day himself then without any interference from others. But this time he would prefer to be at school over the weekend, if it meant he could avoid to spend his saturday afternoon together with Naruto.

He had tried to ignore the blonde idiot, the past days completely and even managed to avoid another confrontation. To his surprise, Naruto hadn´t even tried to bother him, and this hadn´t happen often before. Maybe the Uzumaki wasn´t thrilled about Iruka´s invitation as well.

But Sasuke really doesn´t care, whatever Naruto wanted or not. The little Uchiha was the one, whose freetime should be wasted for this nonsense. Because in contrast to the idiot, Sasuke had a lot of things to do. While he was sure, Naruto´s only hobby was to annoy everyone around him. So obviously, the ravenhaired boy had a lot more reasons to be peevish about the invitation.

And he tried everything to get rid of the planning meeting. He virtually begged Kakashi to invent some excuse, in order to cancel the planned reunion. But his guardian refused. While he listened to Sasuke´s complaints attentively, he explained him, that they owed Iruka to appreciate, the kindness he offered them. Of course he wasn´t happy, but on the same time he had to admit, that Iruka really helped him a lot. Especially, when he returned to the academy, some month ago. It wasn´t that he wanted to offend Iruka, in a matter of fact he liked his sensei, but the thought to spend his day with Naruto was really too much. He resented Naruto since his first day at the academy. Perhaps he exaggerated a bit, but he was sure the blonde idiot thought the same. And this was probably the only thing, the two boys would agree.

In any case, Kakashi had convinced him, that it would be very rude to refuse his sensei´s invitation and so he agreed reluctantly, to pull himself together for the coming visit.

Nevertheless, he was more than grumpy as they were on the way, to sensei Iruka´s apartment. He went next to his guardian, with a sour expression, which Kakashi ignored successfully. Sasuke was aware that Iruka arranged the meeting mostly, as an try to befriend him with Naruto and this made him only angrier. However, he gave Kakashi his word and he wouldn´t let him down.

Soon, they arrived at the apartment house were Iruka together with Naruto lived. The Uchiha was never here before and observed the building with skeptical eyes. The block of flats, looked similar to the one, where he and Kakashi lived. But this one was bigger and the exterior color was different too.

The silverhaired jonin led him inside the building and Sasuke followed him slowly. His mood got worser, the closer they came to the destination. At length, he found himself standing directly before Iruka´s door. His guardian knocked loudly and a moment later, the brunette teacher appeared before them, with an big smile in the face and greeted them kindly.

"I´m glad that you two are here." Iruka said and stepped to the side, so that his guests could enter. "I´ve prepared some snacks, but let´s go inside first. Naruto is very excited to meet with you Sasuke."

 _Sure,_ the little boy thought merely annoyed. Iruka patted his head before he signaled them to follow him. The teacher led them into his livinroom and Sasuke noticed that this apartment was considerably smaller, as the one where he lived. In the middle of the room, was placed a large beige couch. Before the couch was a little table, on the top of it, was placed a tray with candy, biscuits and a teapot as well. The boy grimaced a bit, if there was one thing he hated even more than Naruto, then definitely every foodstuff with an sweet taste.

He sat down next to Kakashi and hoped that Naruto would at least stay away. His hopes were crushed, when Iruka called out for the blonde. A door cracked open and a second later, the Uzumaki shambled inside the room. Naruto´s face was adored an showy pout and every idiot could see that both boys were uncomfortable. So why did Iruka arranged this stupid meeting in the first place?!

"Welcome our guests properly." Iruka scolded lightly and shoved Naruto forward.

The prankstar grunted, before he obviously remembered, that peeve Iruka was never a good idea. So he bowed his head and looked at them with hit shiny blue eyes. "Hello Hataka-san and... you..."

Sasuke´s only response was a snort. He turned his head away and looked stubbornly at the opposite wall. Kakashi sighed and turned his attention to Naruto. "Thanks Naruto-kun."

Iruka and Naruto sat down on the other end of the couch and the brunette began pouring tea, in four small cups. He placed the cups carefully before everyone, before he leaned back and said smiling. "Do you like chocolate or rather biscuit?"

"Neither nor..." The ravenhaired boy replied simply.

The chunin teacher narrowed his eyes slightly at the a bit inosolent comment. But before he could say anything, Kakashi took the word. "It´s just, Sasuke isn´t very fond of sweets."

Iruka´s expression lighted up again. "That´s no problem, if you want I can bring you something else. We´ve a huge hoard with instant ramen. I´ll prepare you some."

Before Sasuke got the possibility to accept or deny the offer, a pained gasp escaped Naruto´s lips and it sounded almost like he was in pain. But since Naruto sat the entire time, only some inches away from Sasuke, he knew for sure that he wasn´t hurt. So he turned around and glared at him with lack of understanding.

"What is it Naruto?" Iruka asked.

"You can´t do that to me! This are my ramen and you can´t give them to that bast..." Naruto couldn´t say anymore, because Iruka interrupted him when he grabbed him by the ear. "OWW!" The blonde whined.

"You won´t use any insults! And since Sasuke is your guest for today, it´s only cordially to offer him something what he likes." Iruka scolded.

"But.."

"No buts." Iruka interrupted sternly, before he stood up and rushed into his kitchen.

Kakashi chuckled lightly and Sasuke looked up, directly into his amused face.

"That isn´t funny!" The blonde protested and sent the jonin an angry glare.

"Yes, it is." Sasuke said and maybe the fact, that Naruto was upset, gave him some art of satisfaction.

The blonde frowned. "Shut up, you thief!"

"Thief?" He asked with raisend eyebrows. "Sensei Iruka offered me your ramen. I didn´t took them without permission."

"That don´t makes any difference!"

"Yes, it´s does you moron!" The little Uchiha snapped and ignored the fact that Kakashi sat right next to him. But he had already learned that his guardian was always lenient with him. Just like know, than the silverhaired man let them simple argue without interference and slipped on his teacup. Of course still with his mask before his face.

"You´re the moron! You come here and thinks you can act like you want!"

"I didn´t want come here in the first place!" He argued back.

"Of course you want! Because you can steal my ramen! This is the reason why you came!"

Sasuke couldn´t believe how stupid this idiot was. He had never heard such bunkum before. But he shouldn´t forget, that Naruto was the one, who was talking here and he had already realized a long time ago, how brainless this guy was. This was one of the reasons, he didn´t want to interact with him. He wanted to reply, but then Iruka re-entered the room again and Sasuke thought, it was the best not to quarrel in front of the teacher, well knowing how the man would react.

To his surprise, Naruto seemed to came to the same solution, because he shut his big mouth immediately and even smiled, as he noticed that Iruka carried two bowls with steamed noodles.

"What was the noise?" The chunin asked curious, as he sat down again.

Kakashi waved his hand placatory. "Ah, really nothing. The kids had only a childish argument."

"I hope Naruto hadn´t misbehaved."

"Of course not." The silverhaired jonin said and Sasuke was glad the he was his guardian instead of Iruka. The teacher could be very frightening, when he was in a foul mood.

While he slurped his noodles carefully, the two guardians went on an boring conversation about senseless adultstuff. Even if it was extreme tediously to listen the whole time, Sasuke decided, it was ways better as to waste his time, with the blonde idiot. So he hoped, that Iruka would forget about the planned _"playdate",_ he set for both boys. Of course, he wasn´t that lucky. When he finished his ramen and placed the empty bowl on the table, Iruka turned to Naruto and crushed his hopes for the second time.

"Would you be so friendly and show Sasuke your room?" The teacher said.

This time Sasuke was the one who gasped, while Naruto´s eyes went wide open and he puffed his cheeks and pouted.

"I don´t want show him my room!" The prankstar argued and Sasuke agreed silently.

The brunette sent his ward a meaningful look and it´s seemed Naruto got the message immediately. The boy scowled but stood up at once and gave Sasuke a sign to follow him.

But he didn´t moved from his spot. This time Kakashi looked down at him and Sasuke had a premonition what would come next.

"Sasuke, please go with Naruto now. We´ve some matters to discuss, which aren´t supposed for childs ears."

He wanted argue but he saw the seriousness, in his guardians uncovered eye and because Kakashi had never required anything from him since he knew him, Sasuke promised himself to carry through todays event. Even if he didn´t want to. But since Kakashi was one, who asked him personally, he silently nooded and followed after Naruto.

Surely, he wore a sour expression on his own, similar to Naruto´s angry pout. But both boys hadn´t really another chance as to comply and so he stomped sluggish behind the blonde. Naruto entered his room first and let his door open for Sasuke. The uchiha observed tha small room. The bed was placed before the window and the covers hanged disordered down. Toys and clothes were scattered carelessly on the floor and Sasuke raised his eyebrow unbelievingly. Who could seriously live in such chaos?

"Don´t touch anything!" Naruto suddenly warned.

As if there was something he wanted to touch, Sasuke thought sarcastically. "This room is a mess." He pointed out instead.

The blonde´s blue eyes narrowed. "As if your own room looked any better!"

"Of course it does you jerk." He snorted. "First of all you never entered my room and second, I would never live like a pig in my own house. It´s disgusting. But I´ve already expected this, since you´re always sloppy in school and so. Maybe you´re only a very lazy person, this is the reason why you never make any progress."

He smirked, when he noticed Naruto´s angry face. His classmate clenched his fists and bared his teeth. "I can kick your arrogant ass everytime if I want! You´re such an conceited dirty swine, that everyone hates you! This is the reason why you´ve not a single friend!"

For some reason, Naruto´s words hurt more than it should. Maybe it was, because he knew very well that the massacre had changed him a lot. He could still remember what for an cheerfully personality he had been, and everyone had always liked him. Now he had lost a lot of his old self. Sure, he began to find his way back into life and on some days, he could even say he felt a waft happiness again. But it wasn´t the same like in those days. He had learned to love and trust Kakashi but if he was honest he was the only person, whom Sasuke would open up to. The little Uchiha struggled every day with all this excruciating emotions and sometimes he didn´t let pull himself down but on other days, he felt depressed and overwhelmed. No other child, his age, went through this, so it was no wonder he wasn´t able to be close to others.

Naruto had no right to say something like that! That he wasn´t very reticent himself, ignored Sasuke deliberately. "This comes just from you? Everyone hates you! Nobody wants to interact with you, because you´re stupid, annoying and insufferable! Nobody cares for you, I´m sure everyone would even be glad if you would disappear!"

"Oh yes?" The Uzumaki cried. "At least I´ve Iruka and he truly cared about me! The truth is, you´re the one, who has nobody! Your wird jonin gurardian let you only live with him, because old-man- hokage ordered him so! I bet, he can´t barely await the day, when he can get rid of you again!"

Sasuke was stunned. His brain needed a moment to grasp Naruto´s words. He opened his mouth, in order to reply something but only a pained gasp escaped his lips. Suddenly, a wave of dread raised inside him. The fear, that maybe the blonde´s words hold a hint of truth. That Kakashi in reality... The boy couldn´t believe this. After the massacre, he had clunged on his guardian, as the only remaining person in his life. He couldn´t handle a second betray. Not after Itachi...

He stopped his thoughts abruptly. It was the the first time, he remembered this murder clearly, since everything happened. And it´s hurt, more than anything. He saw Itachi´s picture before his eyes... and then suddenly, such rage overwhelmed him, that he couldn´t control himself any longer. With such speed, which even surprised Sasuke himself, he moved forward and punched Naruto into the face.

The blonde stumbled backwards, but recovered fast as he jumbed forward and kicked after the uchiha. Sasuke dodged the attack with ease. Naruto wasn´t nearly on his level yet, he wasn´t top of the class for nothing. He didn´t knew, why he found it necessary to fight with the idiot all of the sudden. A voice in his head told him to stop, it was only a matter of time until Iruka and Kakashi would notice what was going on. But the rage burned inside his entire body and somehow he felt the urge, to use Naruto as a punching bag.

Perhaps, the blonde´s words had truly hurt him or it was mostly about his sudden reminder of his murder brother. At any rate, he couldn´t bring himself to act reasonable and stop the fight.

Of course Naruto was in his element too, as he charged forward and tried to counter Sasuke´s attacks successfully. Also, Sasuke had somewhat underrated Naruto´s abilities. The young prankstar grabbed his shoulders and slammed him, with full force on the ground. His head hit one of the stupid toys, which laid on the floor and Sasuke bit his lip. Before he managed to stand up, Naruto jumped of him and this time he cried out. The blonde took advantage of his defenseless position and punched him clean into the face. The Uchiha fumed with anger. He grabbed the blonde hair and pulled roughly on the strands. Naruto wailed in pain and rolled off from him. This time, Sasuke punched back and both boys get into another brawl. They fought on the floor and they were only stopped, as they slammed against the shelf. The piece of furniture began totter, as their weight was pressed against the mounts and before they at all realized what was about to happen, the shelf broke down.

Sasuke cried as the massive wood boards made contact with his back. He was so shocked, that he registered the pain only, when he laid buried under the mess of boards and toys. The little one tried to catch his breathe, as the pain raced through his body. Naruto´s body laid protected under his own, that was why he was the one, who received all the pain. Tears prickled in his dark eyes and he did hie best, to hide the fact that he was on the edge of crying.

It was quiet, expect for the deep breaths both boys made. Then suddenly, heavy footsteps interrupted the stillness. The door swung open and a second later, he heard a loud shout.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

He recognized, the angry and loud voice as Iruka´s. A moment later someone, grabbed his arms and rescued him finally from his trapped position. When he looked up, he noticed that Kakashi was the one, who kneeled before him with an concerned frown.

"What happened?" The jonin asked as he helped Sasuke to his feet. "Are you hurt?"

The uchiha blinked away his tears and swallowed down his sobs and tried to think of an reasonable explanation, which would justify this incident, but he couldn´t find any words. At least he managed to shook his head.

"How did this happen Naruto?" Sensei Iruka´s voice let him wince, as he slowly turned around, that the blonde stood only some feets away, while the brunette teacher glared at both of them. He observed the mess, they had caused and he felt a pang of guilt. He didn´t like Naruto, but it wasn´t his intention to transform the room into a wreck.

"It was his fault!" Naruto yelled and pointed his finger at him. "This jerk attacked me without reason!"  
"Sasuke is that true?" Iruka asked and stepped near.

The little Uchiha couldn´t help and felt cowed, when his sensei approached him. He grabbed Kakashi´s arm and moved closer to his guardian. Obviously, the silverhaired noticed his distress and pulled him close, in a protective gesture.

"You can tell me what happened. Nobody is angry, okay?" Kakashi said in a comforting tone and Sasuke felt terrible that the had doubted, the jonin´s affection for him. Since his guardian proved him everyday that he truly cared for him, so how could he doubt this only because of Naruto´s stupid and immature words? He should´ve known better. But sadly, he couldn´t change this now.

"I attacked him at first. But he provoked me the whole time!" Sasuke anwered and he made sure that the blonde would get a fair share trouble too.

Iruka turned to Naruto and grabbed the boy´s ear. The Uzumaki whimpered frantically and Sasuke felt a wave of sympathy for his classmate. The academy teacher was scary and the grip on Naruto´s ear looked painful too.

"What did I told you? I warned you, that you´ll behave and now you two managed to transform the entire room in chaos!" The brunette man snapped.

"It wasn´t my fault!" Naruto protested and tried to pull away, but unfortunately Iruka only strengthened his grip.

"Be quiet! I promise you this little stunt will have consequences." Iruka informed, before he turned his attention back to Sasuke. "I´d never expected such behaviour from you Sasuke. You should be ashamed. Do you think, this is how a guest should behave?"

He looked down, as Iruka began scolding him. If he was honest, he knew that his teacher was right. His parents had raised him better and he was sure they would be disappointed, if they could see him right now. New tears appeared in his black eyes and he was grateful, that his bangs hid the view of his face.

"You should know better than this." His teacher continued, before Kakashi suddenly interrupted.

"That´s enough Iruka. I think you´re exaggerating. They are just boys. It´s not a big deal. Let´s clean the mess and then forget the incident." Kakashi looked down at him and ruffled his black hair. What would he do without Kakashi? Sasuke looked up and gave his guardian a thankful smile.

"They´ve destroyed the entire room!" Iruka argued but before he could say anymore, Sasuke took the word.

"I´m sorry, sensei Iruka."

Iruka raised his eyebrows, obviously surprised with the apology.

"I´m sorry too!" Naruto sulked. "Please let gooo!"

And finally Iruka released the boy´s ear. The man let out an deep sigh. "Really, you both are really a handful. But I´ll let it go. Please clean up and I´ll take care of the shelf later."

"Leave it to us!" Naruto cheered and Sasuke nodded. Kakashi gave his hair an last affectionately ruffle, before he left together with Iruka.

The boys worked quietly. Sasuke removed the wood boards and placed them carefully on stack. Naruto did the same with his toys and they ignored eachother for a long time.

"I´m sorry for my words earlier." Naruto suddenly said and the uchiha stopped in his tracks, not sure if he had heard right. He looked up and recognized, how uncomfortable the blonde was. "I shouldn´t have said something like that. It was mean and unfair too."

Now Sasuke was really surprised. He hadn´t expected, for Naruto to feel guilty. But he did. And maybe the blonde wasn´t a entire bad person after all.

"I´m sorry too. For my words and for punching you..." Sasuke finally said and he meant it. It wasn´t like him to react the way he did and he when even Naruto had the guts, to apologize, then he could do it above all. He was still a Uchiha and surely more mature as an Uzumaki.

The blonde gave him a sincere smile, which exposed a tooth gap on his right side. "Apology accepted!" He announced loudly.

For some strange reason, Sasuke smiled.

"But I´ll kick your ass, next week in the academy, nevertheless."

Sasuke rolled his eyes but still smiled. "Yes, sure. Let´s continue now, or we´ll never finish here."

Naruto nodded. "By the way, your guardian is really nice. He hadn´t even snapped at you."

"Yes, he is." The little Uchiha agreed and felt pretty proud, that he had such an cool guardian. He bet, no other child would´ve got away this easily. "In contrast of you. Sensei Iruka is very scary..."

"I know, but he is okay nevertheless." Naruto explained. "In the end, he only gets angry because he worried about me. About you too, since you´re his student and so..."

"Yeah, I guess, it was our own fault. And now let´s hurry, I want to go home as fast as possible."

"And I want to get rid of you, as fast as possible."

They needed a eternity until they were finally finished. After he had apologized by Iruka again, he and Kakashi could finally leave the apartment. And the little Uchiha was more than happy and after all this tumult, he was ready to fall into his own bed.

 **Thanks for the reviews :)**

 **To the question from Saofan3064, yes Sasuke will have a completely differrent childhood, as in the anime. Since he isn´t growing up alone and Kakashi will characterize Sasuke in many ways. He´ll learn the meaning of teamwork and Sasuke will meat the ninken too. Probably on his eight birthday.**

 **Please let me know what you think, and like always I would be very grateful, if you tell me when you notice some grammer and spelling faults :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A Potential Friend**

The day had been very eventful, probably because of Sasuke´s and Naruto´s little confrontation. For Kakashi was it a big surprise, to see his little ward from a completely different side. He had known Sasuke as an very obediently and sensitive boy, but it seems that the contact with Naruto let him show some other features.

Iruka had been understandably angry about the unpleasant incident, but Kakashi was happy. Maybe it sounds odd, but for him it was a prove that Sasuke was still able to find back to his old self. He knew, the massacre had destroyed a lot in Sasuke but they had managed together, to move forward and step by step, the boy had found his way back into life.

The little Uchiha was finally able to show different emotions again and he felt, that the boy got a piece of his childhood back. All the more progress Sasuke made, the more confident he was, to make sure that the boy could grow up like any other child. He wanted to ensure that the little one, could still enjoy a normal childhood. At least so normal as possible under the circumstances.

By the end of the day, Sasuke was so exhausted that he went to bed immediately, after they arrived at home. It was daily routine to bring the boy to bed in the evening. Kakashi had learned fastly, that the little raven haired boy needed fixed structures during everyday life, in order to feel safe and protected.

"You´re very tired now, hm?" Kakashi asked, as he tucked the boy in.

The little boy yawned loudly and laid his head in his pillow. "Yes, but today was stressful too. And Sensei Iruka was very angry too. That´s why I didn´t wanted this meeting in the first place."

The Jonin chuckled lightly. "I know. It seems Naruto and you are like fire and water. Do you dislike him this much?"

"He annoys me most of the time. But I guess, I was today a bit too mean to him."

"Really?" He raised his silver eyebrows. He couldn´t imagine that his little ward could even be _mean._ Surely, he was aware that the boy could be terrible stubborn but he was always such a sweet child, that Kakashi was his charm totally devoted.

"Yeah, I was." Sasuke said and pushed down another yawn, which threatened to escape his lips.

"Did you apologize?"

"Yes, but only after he apoliogized first. He was pretty mean too." The boy said. "But maybe we were both mean..."

"I´m glad to hear that. It´s always important to accept your own faults. Some arguments can be natural but you should never cross the line, where you hurt someone´s feelings." Kakashi said.

Sasuke seemed to think a moment about his words. He rubbed his eyes with his fist and yawned again. It wouldn´t take long today, for him to fall asleep. "I believe, we both hurt each other´s feelings..."

He stroked the boy´s soft hair and smiled down at him. "But you realized your fault and apologized, right?"

The little one nodded. "After Naruto said sorry, I said sorry too..."

"You know, even if you don´t like Naruto very much, you should never hurt him on purpose. Maybe he isn´t so bad after all and you should simple try to know him better. So far I can tell, you both have more in common as you may think."

"He has no parents too. That´s why he is living with sensei Iruka." Sasuke mumbled. "I know how it feels... But Naruto never made the impression... that he is unlucky..."

"It´s because he doesn´t know his parents. They died shorty after he was born. He don´t even know, who they are."

The little boy´s eyes widened when he heard his guardians words. "But this is..."

Kakashi nodded. "Do you understand now, why his situation isn´t so much different from yours?"

"I´m not sure if his situation is even worser than mine... At least I know my parents and I´ve a lot memories at them."

"Don´t think about that now." He said. "I just want you to understand Naruto´s feelings better. You may think he is annoying, because he likes pranks and even I´ve to admit, that he is a very loud boy. But I think his behaviour is mostly to overplay his own uncertainties."

"I´ve never thought about that before..." Sasuke admitted and blinked his dark eyes.

The Jonin smiled again. "That´s alright. You know, I only want you to realize that a friend is something very valuable."

"A friend?" The little Uchiha asked confused.

"Yes a friend. The realationship between friends isn´t something you can simple put in words, but if you really have a person in your life, whom you can call _friend,_ than you can trust him with everything." He explained carefully. "You know, maybe Naruto and you can´t get along with eachother but on the other hand, if you´ll try it out and maybe you and Naruto will surprisingly get along though, then I´m sure, he could understand your feelings very well."

Sasuke pondered for a moment. "Do you think so?"

"I know so." Kakashi affirmed. "But for now, you need to sleep. You can´t even hold your eyes open any longer, can you?"

"Barely... I´m really tired." The little one admitted openly. "But I´ll think about your words."

"Glad to hear that. And now is bedtime. Good night Sasuke."

"Good night Kakashi and I love you..."

Kakashi´s gaze softened even more. He really couldn´t imagine his life without Sasuke anymore. The child gave him so much and he could hardly believe how much love he felt for the little one. And to see, that the boy cared equally for him as he does, made him indescribable happy. For him, the little seven years old boy, was the most adorable little boy on the entire world. He would always protect him, from everything.

"I love you too." The silverhaired Jonin said as he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Sasuke´s forhead.

Sasuke spent the rest of the weekend, with thinking over Kakashi´s words. He couldn´t help, but since their talk, he began to see Naruto with different eyes. It wasn´t that he felt sympathy all of the sudden for the blonde, but rather that he realized that they shared a lot of things regarded to their current situation.

Although he had known that the blonde lived with sensei Iruka, he hadn´t bothered before to think about the why. Only now, he comprehended that he wasn´t the only one who had lost his parents. And somehow it was a comforting feeling. Maybe because there was still someone, whose feelings weren´t very different from his own.

Konoha was a Ninja village. Death was all present and many people have lost their parents or other family members. But this had been before his birth. He was born into an era of peace and stability. Of course, he knew the many stories which were told over the three Ninja world wars, since everyone knew them, but he had never known someone in his age who was familiar with death and violence.

Sasuke´s generation grew up sheltered and protected. There was no way that any seven years old in Konoha had lost many beloved people. Their parents have fought in the wars but for the most children, this were only some exciting stories and they couldn´t imagine in the slightest was death really meant.

He had also been so. Until his brother murdered everyone he loved and even now, Sasuke couldn´t dare even to think about it. But on that day, he had understood what death really means.

Nobody from his peers could comprehend this pain and perhaps this was one reason, why he had isolated himself so much from them. Now he began to see things from a bit different perspective. Naruto was without a family too, even if the blonde hadn´t probably any memorie from his parents. Nevertheless, the blonde was the first child in his age, who went through similar grief like he did.

The little raven haired boy was aware, that he and Naruto didn´t share a lot of things in character but maybe just the pain was the reason why he could try to befriend with the prankstar. According to Kakashi, a friend was very valuable and someone, whom you could trust fully and who would fill many gaps of solitude and grief.

If he was honest, he didn´t know what exactly a friend meant but somehow his guardian´s words had been very convincingly. It sounded nice, to have someone besides Kakashi, especially when his guardian couldn´t be at home because of duty.

So he decided he should give it a try. The possibility, that he and Naruto, wouldn´t get along anyway was big but a try couldn´t hurt, could it?

On monday morning he was determined to search the contact with the blonde and the rest would work out somehow. He was in a good mood as he was on his way to the academy. Perhaps because Kakashi promised to come home early today and Sasuke always enjoyed the evenings, where they would eat dinner together. It gave him always the feeling of safety and even now, he still needed this feeling more than anything else.

Like always he was pernickety punctual, probably even more than usually, because he ran a good little piece of the way. When he entered his classroom, there was only Shino Aburame present. Both boys ignored eachother as Sasuke sat down on his place.

After he had placed his school stuff properly on the table, he pulled out his book from his bag and laid it carefully on the top of his things. He was still determined to fight himself through the difficult lecture, even if Kakashi had offered him countless times to buy him an more appropriate textbook.

Soon the rest of the class trotted in, one by one. Naruto was the last who arrived. Sasuke wondered why he didn´t came together with Sensei Iruka, especially because the blonde had an hang for tardiness.

He observed Naruto from the coner of his eye and his resolve to befriend with him slowly melted, as he noticed the boy´s annoying behaviour. Just five minutes after his arrival, Naruto got into an argument with Kiba and yelled practically through the room. And if this wasn´t irritating enough, he jumped also over the desks and chased the Inuzuka through the entire classroom.

Before he could decide whether he should still try it out or not, Sensei Iruka entered the classroom and ordered them all to their seats. The lesson began only a moment later. The first hour was mathematic, not his favourite subject but he hadn´t any difficulties with it either. Although Konohas academy was a military school, subjects like math or kanji write exercises were standard lessons. In addition came history and biology were they learned about different arts from poisons, weapon knowledge and of course taijutsu and kenjutsu teaching where they would train outdoors and this was Sasuke´s favourite subject.

 _A shinobi needs not only physical power, but a good general knowledge as well._ Sensei Iruka used to say and unfortunately the brunette taught every lesson carefully, not matter how boring and unimportant the stuff was.

Today expected Sasuke the complete program. There would be lessons inside the classroom until three o´clock pm and only the last two hours were planned for physical training. The little boy sighed inwardly as he listed the exercises Iruka gave them. Today promised to be a long and boring day.

The Uchiha was busy with solving his arithmetc, as a loud bang let the whole class jump. Smoke appeared as he looked up and saw, how Naruto threw some bang frogs on the floor. The girls were screaming, obviously they hadn´t noticed yet what really happened but he could already hear some boys began to snicker. He coughed a bit as the smoke filled the classroom and fortunately, his seat was right next to the window and so he opened it instantly.

But the loudest laughter came from Naruto directly. "You all should see your stupid faces! Nobody had expected this! Hahahaha!"

Sensei Iruka wasted no time and stepped forward, after he had recovered from the first shock. He grabbed Naruto by the ear and yelled so loud, that the whole class flinched.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI! I DON´T THINK ANYTHING OF THIS IS FUNNY!"

He pulled Naruto in front of the class and the blonde whined. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Please let go!"

Iruka ignored him and pulled him roughly through the room. Most of his peers were laughing now, it was always fun whenever someone got into trouble with Iruka, but mostly this was Naruto´s part anyway. However, Sasuke couldn´t understand in the slightest what was funny about this whole stunt. Honestly, it was only embarrassing and somehow, he was now entirely convinced that the blonde wouldn´t be good friend for him after all. His behaviour was really ways too stupid.

"You´ll stand in the hallway for the rest of the hour and you´ll clean the mess in the big break!" The brunette teacher yelled. "And you´ll have detention for the coming two weeks! This little stunt was really enough!"

The blonde boy protested loudly but Iruka pulled him out of the room, straightly to the hallway. Whatever Sensei Iruka still said or did to the blonde, was unheard for the rest of the class. When the teacher returned he continued the lessons, with open windows now, but he was really angered. Iruka snapped at everyone, who made a single unnecessary noise. As if this was they fault, when Naruto couldn´t pull himself together. In addition, the blonde should actually know how angry Iruka always got when someone misbehaved. How stupid to provoke their sensei constantly.

In any case, the little Uchiha was now really determined to forget his idea. The Uzumaki was surely the last person he needed as a friend.

The next hours went uneventful. He spent his big break with reading and partially hid from Sakura and Ino, whom were chasing after him. The Uzumaki wasn´t be allowed to be out and instead he cleaned the classroom. When everyone returned, it seemed all his peers were annoyed with the blonde, because they teased him pitilessly. Of course Naruto yelled and even started some fights but when Iruka entered, everyone silenced.

The last two hours were outside and Sasuke was happy that finally Kunai training awaited them. He was already very skilled with weapons but nevertheless he liked this subject the most.

"I want you to work in a two man team today. In order to work out eachothers strong points and weak points together. You´re allowed to choose your partner by yourself but I warn you, if there is any interruptions or trouble, I´ll seperate you immediately." Sensei Iruka explained and the whole class broke into a loud chatter as they formed the needed teams.

Sasuke looked around. He wasn´t sure with whom he could work together. He hadn´t a single friend in his class and most of the time, he waited until Iruka would partner up him with someone. This was the reason why he hated teamwork!

One of the girls would probably work together with him, but he wasn´t that desperate. So he looked further around, until his eyes stayed on Naruto. The blonde leaned against a tree and tried to overplay his own uncertainty. After todays stunt, nobody wants to work together with the blonde and Sasuke discerned, that Naruto had just like him, no idea with whom he could work.

Suddenly, he remembered Kakashi´s words. That Naruto behaved in such annoying way to overplay his own uncertainty and now the Uchiha saw clearly that he really did so. The blonde´s smile was fake and his eyes wandered uncertainly to everyone. He saw the hope in Naruto´s eyes that someone would approach him.

Maybe, just maybe Sasuke should give it a try. This had been his resolve anyway, had it?

He hadn´t to lose anything anyway and so he decided he would give it a try for the first and for the last time. Slowly he stepped to Naruto. The Uzumaki observed him skeptical. But before the blonde could say something, Sasuke asked with determination in his voice: "Do you want to be my partner?"

Naruto´s blue eyes widened visibly. Obviously, he hadn´t expected this question and of all from Sasuke too. But after a moment, the blonde was beaming. "Yes, of course." He said.

The little Uchiha still wasn´t convinced whether it was a good idea or not, but in the end it was worth a try.

 **Thanks for your reviews! :)**

 **So Sasuke had done his first step to befriend with Naruto. I know his personality is quite different as in the anime, but since Kakashi is watching over him, his development went in another direction.**

 **I´m aware that they can be some grammers and spelling mistakes. Please review and let me know what you think :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A look forward**

The following month passed too fast for Kakashi´s liking. He and his ward found their way back into normality and for a long time he felt happy. Despite the circumstances, he was glad to have the little Uchiha in his life. He had never imagined what for a blessing a child could be. Sasuke was the one person he would die for, without a second thought. The child meant everything to him. In the past month, they had bonded even more tightly and he could tell genuinely that the Uchiha trusted him fully.

There was a lot happening. Foremost, Sasuke had befriended with Naruto and this had been really a big surprise for him. It had proved once more, that his charge took his advise to heart and trusted his judgement. Naruto had gladly accepted Sasuke´s attemps to befriend and since the little raven haired boy made the first step, both boys were almost inseparable.

Naruto was good for Sasuke. In every aspect. Just like the Uchiha, he was an orphan, at the same time Konoha´s Jinchuuriki and alone that fact isolated Naruto from the rest of the village. According to Iruka, the blonde had changed for the better as well, since Sasuke was his first friend after many years of solitude.

Sometimes both boys were like fire and water and they could get into an argument about everything. But they became close friends over the past month nevertheless. In the meantime, the little raven haired boy spents almost his whole freetime with Naruto. They trained, played at the playground or completed their homeworks together. The Uzumaki was meanwhile a often seen guest in the Hatake/Uchiha household and Kakashi had sometimes the feeling that he was responsible for two children now, so often the blonde visited them frequently.

Thanks to Naruto, his ward began slowly to interact more often with his peers as well and Iruka informed him, that Sasuke´s social skills had improved. The silverhaired Jonin was satisfied with his current development.

Also a special event had been, Sasuke´s moving up into the second grade, after he finished his first year at the academy. The little one had been understandably excited to receive his first year certificate and the result was really worth seeing. He was top of the class and Kakashi celebrated the event with a nice dinner in one of Konoha´s expensive restaurants. He was very proud of the boy.

Nevertheless, the day had been overshadowed. At such an special day, Sasuke had missed his parents and when they arrived home, the boy had began to cry all of the sudden. Kakashi understood the reason and said nothing, instead he had hugged the child and comforted him the whole night. Fortunately, this incident was an expection and Sasuke continued to move forward. But it was one of those moments, where he realized that the boy would always miss his parents. Especially at days like this.

No wonder he looked at the coming weeks with mixed feelings, because Sasuke´s eight birthday would be in two weeks. On the one hand, he looked forward to it, because it would be the first birthday he would spend together with him. On the other hand, he knew Sasuke would surely miss his family terrible on that day. That´s why he was unsure how to plan said day.

He wanted to celebrate his birthday of course, but he didn´t knew how he could avoid that Sasuke would think too much about his dead family. The best thing he could probably do, was to distract him as much as possible but Kakashi had never planned a birthday party before and he was clueless how to organize one. He needed overthink this carefully, two weeks weren´t a large time span after all.

Kakashi inhaled the cool breeze and wandered with his thoughts back to the present time. He was on his way towards the academy building. School would finish soon and since it was his day off today, the Jonin decided to pick up his ward today.

Work got more and more time consuming and Kakashi needed to plan everyday life exactly, in order to find the right balance between his job and private life. Sasuke shouldn´t miss out and it was his main concern to always find enough time for him.

When he arrived before the academy building, he noticed that some parents waited as well. No wonder, school would end in less than five minutes and he was probably one of the last who arrived. Normally, Sasuke went home alone, but since he hadn´t a day off lately, Kakashi imagined it would be a nice surprise to pick him up today.

Sasuke appreciated such gestures. The little Uchiha was still attached for attention, probably more than other children. Sasuke needed the feeling to be loved and he suspected that this was another result of what happened to his clan.

He had hardly finished his thought, as the bell rang loudly and some moments later the kids streamed out from the building. First class students ran towards their mothers and fathers and chatted improvidently about their adventures. They weren´t smaller or immaturer as Sasuke was, but Kakashi knew how proud the Uchiha was to be a second class student now. Children wants to grow up fast, but Kakashi would rather shield Sasuke as long as possible from the harshness of the world.

Some minutes later, a wellknown raven haired head came into view. And an even more notably bright blonde shock of hair appeared beside him. Both boys were talking, but when Sasuke noticed his guardians presence, the boy ignored Naruto and ran forward.

"Kakashi!" The boy said when he stood before him. "Why are you here?"

He smiled under his mask and patted the Uchiha´s dark head gently. "My boss gave me surprisingly the day off. So, I thought I could pick you up from school. How was your day?"

"The lessons were boring..."

"And mostly annoying!" Naruto interrupted suddenly and stepped next to Sasuke.

"Did you had at least fun during break?" The Jonin asked.

"At the beginning yes. We were playing softball again but then Ino and Sakura started chasing after me and I spent almost the entire break with running away from them." The Uchiha complained. "I hate girls! They´re stupid and gross!"

"Sakura-chan isn´t stupid!" Naruto said and glared at his friend. "She is very smart, maybe even smarter than you! Don´t insult her anymore!"

"She is annoying! You can´t know it, because she left you alone! But she is stalking me and that´s stupid, since I told her already countless times to leave me alone! You only defend her, because you´ve a crush on her!"

"That´s not true!" Naruto cried.

"Yes it is!"  
"No!"

"Yes!"  
Kakashi raised his eybrows as he watched the scenario. He chuckled quietly into the fabric of his mask. It was a cute sight but since he knew how fast the boys could get into a real argument, he decided it would probably the best to interrupt them, before a fight could occur.

"Listen, you two." He said and both boys looked up at him. "I´m sure your opinions are both reasonable but there is no need to fight over something so trivial, right?"

"Yeah, right." Sasuke said and Naruto nodded in agreement. "Will you train with us now? After all you´ve a day off today!"

"Really?" Naruto yelled. "Than let´s head directly to the trainingsfield!"  
Training was still Sasuke´s favourite activity and since Naruto and Sasuke spents a lot of time together, the Uzumaki took a part in their training as well. Sometimes he had the impression that both boys looked almost like brothers. They behavior seemed at least this way.

"Not today." Kakashi said and shook his head. "It´s already five o´clock pm and after you´ve eat dinner and made your homework, it´ll be evening."

Sasuke sighed, because he had already expected this answer. He was a bit disappointed but nodded understandable. Unlike Naruto, the Uchiha was an very obedient and sensible child and he knew his guardian´s words were only reasonable.

But the blonde boy didn´t bother to hide his discontent. "That´s not fair!" He groaned loudly. Naruto envied the fact, that Sasuke got trained by an elite Jonin on a regular basis. All the happier he had been, as the Uchiha invited him to join them for their trainingssessions. Even Iruka admitted that Kakashi´s extra training helped him improving. No wonder he was displeased now.

"We can train on the weekend." The silverhaired Jonin assured.

Naruto was about to protest but the little Uchiha interrupted him in time.

"You know Kakashi is right." He said, before he glanced up at his guardian again. "But that doesn´t mean you can´t treat us for dinner instead, right?" He smiled brightly.

The masked shinobi couldn´t help and smiled back. His Uchiha was really too adorable and again he was helpless against such sweetness. He was sure that Sasuke didn´t know how enchanting he really was. "Of course, I´ll treat you for lunch."

The Uzumaki´s expression brightened at once. "Can we´ve ramen for dinner?"

"If Iruka agrees that you´ve dinner with us.."

"Iruka has still some paperwork to complete and told me to get something to eat outside. He gave me even money for that!" Naruto reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out some coins. He showed them to Kakashi and said; "You see!"

Kakashi nodded convinced."Alright, then let´s go."

During the way, Sasuke narrated about todays shuriken training, while Naruto ran practically forward. Somehow the blonde convinced them indeed to go to the ramen stand and an quarter of an hour later, they sat by Ichirakus.

While Sasuke was still busy with his first portion miso ramen, Naruto emptied already his second bowl. His little ward was still not a good eater but at least he always finished his servings. The blonde however was a glutton and it was impressive how the little boy managed to eat so much. Especially, after he ordered his third bowl. Obviously Naruto enjoyed that he was invited.

"If you continue to stuff yourself with ramen, you´ll look like Choji soon." Sasuke remarked and smirked.

"No way. I can eat as much I want. I would never become fat." Naruto scowled. "Maybe you´re just envy because you´re the one who need to care for his weight." The blonde snickered. "That´s why you eat not much every day."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure. Sometimes you´re just stupid."

"I don´t care. You´re more stupid than me."

"Now, that didn´t make any sense." Sasuke said and placed his empty bowl down.

Naruto ordered a fourth bowl and Kakashi hoped inwardly that the boy would finally stop after another portion. But it was thoroughly possible that the blonde would order still a fifth or even a sixth portion.

"Kakashi-san?"

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a female voice from behind. He turned around and recognized Shizune, who just entered.

"Shizune-san." Kakashi greeted politely and bowed his head.

"Long time no see." She said before her eyes wandered to the two boys. "Hello Sasuke-kun, hello Naruto-kun."

Sasuke´s dark eyes observed her for a moment. "You´re the lady from the hospital."

Shizune smiled. "Yes, I´m. How are you?"

"I´m fine." The Uchiha answered shyly. Sasuke was a bit uncommunicative towards strangers.

Of course Naruto was the complete opposite too. "Why do you know my name?" He asked, while Shizune sat down at the empty stool next to Kakashi.

"Iruka is a good friend of mine and of course I know that you´re living with him." She explained.

"Häh?" The blonde raised his eyebrows. "But I´ve never seen you before!"

Kakashi chuckled. Sometimes Naruto could be really cute.

Shizune was laughing too. "You know, adults have mostly a busy life. That´s the reason why I haven´t seen Iruka for a while yet."

The blonde looked at her skeptical but eventually said; "I´m not entirely convinced but I´ll ask Iruka about you later."

Both adults laughed again, before Shizune ordered for herself a portion ramen.

"Can we go to the playground until sundown?" Sasuke suddenly asked and Naruto cheered in agreement. Obviously, both boys were bored now.

"What about your homework?" Kakashi said.

"We´ll do it outside. It´s simple anyway." The little Uchiha explained and Kakashi ruffled his head.

"Alright, but you´ll be back by sundown. And you Naruto..." The Jonin said. "You´ll go straight home too."

"Yes!" Both boys said and stormed off.

The silverhaired Jonin´s eye followed the boys until they disappeared around the corner. He couldn´t help and smiled again. Sasuke had really changed for the better, since he was befriended with Naruto. He was finally able to behave like a normal child his age. Kakashi was sure that Sasuke would develop normally.

"He looks so much better now." Shizune suddenly said and interrupted Kakashi´s thoughts.

"Who?"

"Sasuke of course. He looks happy and carefree. I´ve never expected that he would recover so well from everything."

"It took a long time, but he is fine now." The masked shinobi said.

"You look better too. I´ve never seen you so relaxed before. Seems you´re very good for eachother." The woman said thoughtfully. "You´ve changed a lot."

"Sasuke changed me." He admitted, because it was true. "I would´ve never imagined what for a blessing a child could be... I can´t explain those feelings in words, I can just say I would do anything for that boy."

"It seems, he rescued you from your emotional down too." She knew him from the past and he had worked with her together on some occasions, surely she recognized his obvious changes. "I was always convinced that the Anbu unit were the wrong place for you. After everything you went through... It´s somehow ironic that of all a child, who experiend the same pain, helped you to find back towards your old self."

"True." Kakashi said. "What about you, is there anything new?"

"Not at all. I´ve plenty of work at the hospital and I´m glad whenever I can find some freetime."

"Apparently you´re very busy lately."

"You could say that. But I can imagine that caring for a child and at the same time your job, surely isn´t easy?" Shizune wondered aloud and picked up her chopsticks as her ramen were served.

"I give my best. But sometimes, there´re situations where I doesn´t know how to handle it."

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke´s birthday will be in two weeks." Kakashi sighed. "On the one hand, I´m happy because it´ll be the first birthday we´ll spend together. But on the other hand, I´m afraid that he´ll miss his family terrible and he shouldn´t be sad on his special day..."

Shizune nodded sadly. "I understand. Such days will always bring the memories back... If you want I can help you to prepare a celebration for his birthday."

"Seriously?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at her with disbelieve.

"Of course. I would gladly help you. You should probably organize the celebration outside. It´s summer, we can have a barbecue in the park. You should invite as much kids as possible. They can play together and will distract Sasuke from any depressive thoughts. Talk to Iruka, he can surely enumerate some kids with whom Sasuke get along well. Perhaps you can invite some parents too."

He listened to Shizune carefully and he was pleasingly surprised. Her idea was really remarkable and he began to hope that maybe Sasuke could enjoy his birthday after all. He would talk with Iruka about that matter and he was grateful that Shizune offered him help as well. And he would need help, but he knew, there were still some people he could rely on.

 **Thank you very much for the reviews :) It´s always a huge support and motivation for me.**

 **This chapter is just a passage for the next chapter. Some time has passed and the coming chapter will be about Sasuke´s birthday party and how he handles his first birthday without his family.**

 **Like always, let me know what you think and review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A special birthday**

The sunbeams bedazzled Sasuke and prevented every attempt to fall back to sleep. He rolled to the other side but somehow he couldn´t find the repose to relax a bit longer. It was always the same, if he was first off awake, he couldn´t drop off to sleep anymore. And today was saturday, his day off after a long and exhausting school week. He turned around again and blinked his eyes multiple times before he looked at his alarm clock. It was hardly seven o´clock am and all of his peers were probably still asleep.

Sasuke should be asleep too. They had written some tests the past week and the lessons had been demanding, even for the young Uchiha. Actually he had really looked forward to the weekend but right now he would rather go to the academy as to stay home. Especially today.

If the day would run like usually then perhaps Kakashi would probably train him later. Normally this was always the highlight of the weekend, but today wasn´t just a ordinary day. It would be nice when he could just forget which day was and he had tried to ignore the past days the fact that the 23 July fell this year of all on a saturday.

The little boy buried his face in his pillow. Even if he was awake now, there was no need to leave the bed quickly. Not this year.

He had always been in high spirits on his birthdays. Always awake earlier than usual and exited what the day would bring. But he had spent those birthdays with his family. And now wasn´t anything to celebrate anymore.

Nevertheless, he couldn´t help that he felt a hint of this exitement right now too. It was his eight birthday after all and like every other child, the Uchiha wanted to grow up as fast as possible. But at the same time, he felt the familiar throbbing in his chest and the reminder at his family was today stronger as it had been in the past month.

His mother would prepare a special dinner for him and the rest of the family. Family members would visit and spoil him virtually with presents and treats. Everyone would congratulate him. Even his usual stoic and strict father had always spent time with him during his special day. He would took his day off and use the time to train Sasuke himself until dinner was ready or his grandparents would arrive. Sasuke had always loved his birthdays, because he stood in the focal point on this days. Everyone paid attention towards him and even his busy brother...

The boy let out a sharp breath. He stopped his thought before he could finish it. What was he thinking? How could he think about that person off all? But those days were a part of his family. A family which belonged to the past now. But somehow he was sure he could never accept this fact.

He wished his parents could be here today. That they would celebrate his birthday like they always did. But they wouldn´t come and once again, he felt the loss especially hard.

Why couldn´t his birthday just fell on a regular school day? At least the lessons would distract him from all this painful thoughts. The little Uchiha boy hadn´t felt so alone since his parents death.

Of course he had Kakashi and he loved his guardian dearly now. The Jonin cared and protected him and after everything, Sasuke was glad to have him. But it was just that today was an important day for him, and on such days, he missed his parents more than usual.

Kakashi hadn´t mentioned anything regarding his birthday and he wasn´t sure whether his guradian even knew which day today was. Sasuke wouldn´t blame him if he didn´t. Kakashi wasn´t an expert on such topics, if he was honest he didn´t even know when his guardian´s own birthday was. And even if he knew that Sasuke´s birthday was, the boy was convinced that Kakashi wouldn´t mind such things anyway.

Maybe he should simple stay the whole day in bed. There wasn´t good reason to get up and so he rolled on his side again and closed his eyes. But he could no longer sleep. The thoughts didn´t leave him alone and he looked at the alarm clock again. Half-past seven am and still too early for a saturday to get up, but Sasuke decided he had enough now.

He climbed out of his bed and stretched his arms in the air. Perhaps he could convince Kakashi to start training a bit earlier today. At least it would distract him and hopefully then, these excruciating thoughts would leave him alone as well.

But when he made his way towards the bathroom, he got disappointed once again. Kakashi was apparently not even at home and the Uchiha was clueless where his guardian went off so early. He was probably at work but Kakashi hadn´t mentioned anything yesterday. Still, he was an elite Jonin and Sasuke knew that shinobi could get anytime a mission.

Nevertheless, he hoped that Kakashi was perhaps just grocery shopping and would come home soon. Sasuke comforted himself with this thought, when he went to the bathroom in order to get ready for the day.

After a shower, he decided to have some breakfast but he hadn´t much appetite and so he was soon finished. Sasuke felt bored, depressed and alone. He tried to tell himself that it wasn´t a big deal and that he should pull himself together. He was a year older now and not a little kid anymore.

He cleaned the dishes and looked bored at the clock. It was nine o´clock yet and Sasuke wondered what he should or could do now. There wasn´t many options without Kakashi here and so he tried to think about a solution in order to escape this oppressive feelings.

Another hour passed and he was still thinking how he could get through the day. Maybe he should visit Naruto later. Surely, the blonde wouldn´t remember his birthday as well but everything was better as to stay alone today. Satisfied with this solution, he decided to write a note for Kakashi and inform him that he would spend today with Naruto.

Just when he was about to scribble the information on a chit, the frontdoor opened and a minute later Kakashi showed up in the door frame.

"Ah, you´re awake."

Sasuke turned around and nodded."Where´ve you been?"

"I just ran some errands." The Jonin said.

"I see." The Uchiha mumbled and tried to hide his disappointment. He had hoped that his guardian would maybe remember his birthday after all. But it seems Kakashi had no idea which day was. Or perhaps he just didn´t care. Suddenly he missed his family even more than before. At least Kakashi could train with him now. "I´m finish with breakfast. Can we go to the trainingsfield now?"

"Not today. There is something more important as training."

Sasuke frowned. He hadn´t expected this answer. Kakashi had never refused to train him before, but before he could protest or even ask, the Jonin spoke up again.

"There is something very important I want to show you and since you´re already ready to leave we can head out now."

The boy was clueless but he followed his guardian outside obediently. He holded the slight hope that maybe the sudden departure has something to do with his birthday. Maybe Kakashi hadn´t forgotten his special day but the Jonin evaded every explanation and said he would see when they arrive.

They walked over fifteen minutes until Sasuke realized that they went straight to Konoha´s biggest park. He couldn´t really imagine what his guardian wanted there. But as Kakashi suddenly placed his hands over his eyes and guided him further forward, he was convinced that this had something to do with his birthday.

His heart began to beat faster and Sasuke realized with elation that Kakashi couldn´t have forgot his special day. Only a moment later the silver haired man gave his sight free again and Sasuke´s eyes went wide open.

"SURPRISE!"

Sasuke was stunned. His eyes were wide in disbelieve. There were so many people and tables, richly covered with different treats. A big cake adorned the middle of the table. In the air hung a happy-birthday-garland and countless balloons rounded off the picture perfectly.

He looked at the present people. There were Iruka and Naruto, which didn´t astonish him much but there were some other classmates of his too. On the one hand Kiba Inuzuka together with his mother and sister and Shikamaru and Choji. Some other adults were present too. There was Lady Shizune and a man whom were dressed in a green jumpsuit and he looked pretty funny.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASUKE-KUN!" They all said synchronic and Sasuke looked up questioningly at Kakashi.

"Happy birthday Sasuke. This is all for you." The Jonin said and stroked his head softly.

"You don´t forget..." The Uchiha mumbled and smiled.

"Of course not."

Naruto was the one who woke him up from his shock. The blonde grabbed Sasuke´s hand and pulled him forward. "I knew all the time that we would celebrate your birthday today!"

"Why didn´t you tell me?" Sasuke asked bashfully.

"Because it wouldn´t be a surprise if I had." The Uzumaki pointed out. "Anyway, happy birthday and I hope you´ll help to organize such a great party for me too!"

Before he could say anything, Iruka stepped forward and kneeled down before him. "Happy birthday Sasuke. I wish you all the best and that you´ll be always happy." He handed him a blue box. "This is from Naruto and me, I hope you´ll like it."

The birthday boy smiled shyly. "Thank you Sensei Iruka."

The teacher patted his head kindly. "You´re welcome."

One after the other congratulated Sasuke and handed him their gifts. Kakashi noticed how sheepishly his little one was but at the same time the boy enjoyed all the attention he got.

"Happy Birthday, my youthful little friend!" The man with the green jumpsuit cried happily. "I´ve get finally the chance to meet my rival´s young ward!"

The man placed a green wrapped present in his arms and grinned widely. Sasuke knew he was supposed to act politely but the loud guy unsettled him. He stepped back automatically. It was Kakashi, who came to his help.

"I think that´s enough Gai."

"Come on my rival, don´t be such a spoilsport on a day like this." Gai protested and Sasuke realized that obviously Kakashi and this guy were wellknown to eachother.

"I´m not. I just want to say some words." He said. "We want to thank you all for coming"Today is very important for Sasuke and for myself. It´s our first birthday together and we´re both glad that you all found the time to celebrate with us."

Everyone applauded and Sasuke blushed deeply. He was pleasantly touched, he would´ve never expected that all these people would do something like this for him. Sure Naruto was his friend and Iruka showed always sincere commiseration towards him but all the others... It was really nice that Shikamaru, Choji and even Kiba bothered to show up for his birthday. And the present adults too. He had no idea what he was supposed to say.

Luckily, Naruto interrupted again. But after he heard the blonde´s words, Sasuke would´ve rather his friend would just shut up. "Haha, Sasuke you´re as red as a tomato."

"I´m not!" The Uchiha protested.

"Yes you´re but it doesn´t matter anyways. Unwrap rather your presents!" With that said, the Uzumaki grabbed Sasuke´s wrist again and pulled him towards the gift-table. Kiba hurried after them and Shikamaru and Choji trudged behind.

Among the expectanted glances from the others, Sasuke began to unwrap one gift after another.

From Naruto and Iruka he got a new weapons bag and additionally a coupon for free ramen by Ichirakus.

Kiba and his family donated him a pajamas with dog illustrations and a coloring book and colored pencils.

From Shikamaru he got a book about chakra controll and Sasuke found it was a really thoughtfull present. Choji gave him bag filled with candies and even if he disliked sweets, he nodded thankfully. After all, Choji couldn´t know about his dislike of sweets.

Lady Shizune bestowed him a board game and it was a nice present too.

Then he unwraped Gai´s present and his eyes widened a bit in shock. He presented him the same weird green jumpsuit he himself wore. This guy was crazy when he thought Sasuke would ever wear something ridiculous like that. But nevertheless he thanked him politely.

"A youthful suit for a youthful little boy!" Gai grinned and almost hugged Sasuke, but Kakashi interfered just in time and saved him for the second time.

"There is still one present you haven´t unwraped yet." His guardian said and pointed to the last remaining box.

"Is it from you?" Sasuke looked at him with big eyes.

Kakashi nodded and the Uchiha began to open the last gift hastily. His black eyes widened again, this time out of joyous surprise. He had gotten a new Kunai- set and indeed an very highly processed one. This were really sharp Kunai, like the real shinobi used and not blunt and heavy like the academy weapons he purely owned . He stroked with his fingers over the polished surface. He couldn´t believe that he really got a real Kunai-set. Not even his parents had bought him one, they´ve always said he was too young.

The other boys watched the set with similar enthusiasm. Nobody from them owned real sharp weapons yet and as prospective shinobi, this was of course a very special moment for them.

"It´s really for me?" Sasuke mumbled more to himself but Kakashi heard him.

"I thought you´re ready yet. But until you´re comfortable with these, you´ll only use these under my supervision, clear?"

"Yes! I´ll do everything you say." With that he laid the present down and hugged Kakashi around the waist. "Thank you very much!"

The Jonin patted his head kindly and smiled. All the other adults were touched. It was obvious how close Sasuke and Kakashi had become and after everything what happened, it wasn´t a naturalness. And it wasn´t just Sasuke, it was Kakashi too. The others knew the Jonin from his Anbu time and how emotional dulled he had been. Yet it was, as if there stood a complete different person before them.

"Iruka!" Naruto said and drove all the attention to himself. "I want such weapons too!"

"I bet now want every of my academy students these weapons too." Iruka chuckled. It wasn´t a surprise that the other boys agreed.

Shizune interrupted the conversation between the brunette teacher and his ward, when she announced that it was time to cut the cake. Everyone sat down at the table and especially the children enjoyed the sweet cake combined with milk or cocoa. Of all, the birthday boy was an exception. Sasuke hated sweets and wasn´t willing to swallow something like even his birthday cake. But Shizune had made provisions and arranged for him tomato sandwiches.

When the kids were finished, Kakashi stood up and ordered the boys to follow him.

"What now?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Now comes the real surprise." He simple said and gave a toot with his lips. A second later a horde of dogs in all possible sizes, appeared from nothing and galloped towards them.

"So much dogs!" The Inuzuka boy cried glowingly and even his older sister Hana stood up and joined them.

"Are they another present for Sasuke too?" Naruto asked with disbelieve and for the first time he sounded even a bit jealous.

A moment later, eight dogs sat before them and wagged happily with their tails.

"May I introduce? My Ninken and most loyal assistants during missions." Kakashi said.

"My name is Urushi." A little brown-white dog, with sharp protruding teeth, said.

"They can speak!" Choji yelled.

"You´re real Ninken!" Sasuke said amazed.

Another dog nodded. His fur color was red-brown and he wore sunglasses, which was very strange for a dog but it only proved that these animals were really special. "I´m Akino." The animal said.

"My name is Shiba." This one was grey-white.

"Bisuke." Said another one and he was very small compared to the others, but his fur color was tan with dark-brown paws and ears.

The next dog was tan too but his ears were black and he was bigger as Bisuke. "I´m Guruko." He simple said.

"My name is Buru." Barked the biggest of them. He was black and wore a choke chair.

"I´m Uhei." This dark was red-brown with a white snout but his head was wrapped with bandages.

And finally the last dog introduced himself. "My name is Pakkun and I´m the leader from our group." It was hard to believe, since the dog was the smallest of them.

"Alright Kids, they´re here for your entertainment, so feel free to play with them as much you want." Kakashi informed and of course the children beamed happily.

A second later, the kids chased after the dogs and even Hana joined in the game. The park was filled with loud laughter and Kakashi felt a warm feeling in his chest as he observed Sasuke´s happy face. And while the kids were thrilled to play with the dogs, to boot dogs who could speak, the adults chattered around the table.

Well, almost all adults, because Gai had joined the children and played with them as if he was himself still an academy student. Apparently, the kids loved him. Even Sasuke´s intial skepticism was gone. Yes Gai understood it well to amuse the younger ones. The kids found him funny and even the adults had to agree on that.

"When I learned about what happened with the Uchiha clan, I would´ve never thought that the boy would recover this quickly." Tsume Inuzuka said while she observed the playing children.

"There are still those moments when he is full with grief. But these moments become decreasingly. I´m sure, someday he´ll get over it." Kakashi replied thoughtful.

"As his teacher I can tell that he is definitely better. He is laughing more and even begins to bond with his classmates. He is happy now." Iruka smiled softly.

Tsume Inuzuka nodded. "I´m glad for him. If I only imagine that Hana or Kiba would experience something like this... As a mother it breaks my heart."

"I guess today is important for him. It shows him that not only Kakashi but even other people care for him and that he isn´t alone even without his clan." The brunette teacher said.

"Konoha must stick together." The Inuzuka woman said before she drunk her soda.

"Maybe we should heat the grill now." Shizune suggested and stood up.

"Wait, I´ll help you." Kakashi offered and followed her. She had already done enough today. Without her, he would´ve never managed to arrange such an nice party.

The Jonin put the grill in montion while Shizune prepared the meat, fish and vegetables.

"Obviously they´ve a lot of fun." She said smiling and pointed towards the children, who were still playing with the animals.

With expection of Naruto, who was laid on the ground and got his face licked from Buru. The blonde laughed, screamed and tried to wriggle away but Buru was double as big and heavy and he was powerful. Naruto had no chance against the bulldog. Sasuke and Kiba played ball with Pakkun and Uhei, the Inuzuka´s pup Akamaru and Gai, while Shikamaru and Choji caressed the rest of the dogs.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. He agreed with Shizune. The scene seemed so peaceful and innocent. It was something only children could radiate.

"Thank you for all this Shizune. I would´t have known what to do without you."

She shook her head. "No need to thank me. Of course I´ll help when I get the chance to. I admire you for taking care of such an young and partly traumatized child. You´re doing such an great job with him but I can also understand if you´re overwhelmed sometimes. You´re very young too and caring for a child isn´t as easy as it looks. That´s why I´m glad whenever I can help you with something. You can always ask me if you need something."

The masked shinobi was impressed. He had known Shizune for a long time and was aware of her gentle and helpful nature but he had never realized how understanding and selflessly she really was. Apparently she was the born medic. It was her job to help people not to destroy them, which was unfortunately inevitable for a shinobi in order to protect his village.

"You´re a good person." Kakashi said even if he didn´t know why he said it.

The dark haired woman laughed. "Don´t exaggerate. Iruka and Tsume are here as well. It was just my idea to celebrate Sasuke´s birthday outside. And now let´s make the barbecue, the meat needs a while."

He agreed and while they both prepared the dinner, were the kids busy with playing hide and seek. It was a nice afternoon with sunshine and good weather and everyone enjoyed oneself. Sasuke was distracted and enjoyed his birthday absolutely. Even if the Uchiha was ways better now, Kakashi had seldom seen him so carefree and in high spirits before. Of course it made him happy too.

Dinner was ready in the early evening. The kids were elated about the barbecue. There was Yakitori with chicken meat and vegetables, salmon and even filled tomatos which especial Sasuke relished.

The little Uchiha wasn´t normally a big eater but today he ate more than he had those past month. He babbled with Shikamaru and Naruto and once again Kakashi couldn´t believe how relaxed the little one was. As if the massacre hadn´t happened at all. It was the Jonin´s dearest wish that Sasuke could be always like this. Nobody deserves more to be happy as this little boy, who had suffered so much.

Surprisingly, Kakashi was relaxed as well. It was a huge relief that Sasuke´s birthday went so smoothly. He had been worried all those past weeks about that day. But now he could finally breathe again.

After dinner the kids played with the dogs again and the adults began to clean up. Gai fooled around with the boys and once again Kakashi shook his head in disbelieve. His rival was more child than adult and he couldn´t believe that this guy was actual a Jonin. But as long as the kids had fun with him, apparently even Sasuke found him funny.

It was dark when the children were finally too exhausted to play any longer. Shikamaru was already asleep on the meadow and Kiba difted so sleep in his mother´s arms after she picked him up in order to carry him home. Sasuke could barely hold his eyes open anymore and Choji sat exhausted right next to Naruto. The Uzumaki was the only one who was still incited and the Hatake asked himself from where the boy took all this energy.

It was time to head home now. Iruka carried the sleeping Shikamaru and Shizune holded Choji by the hand. They would bring the both boys home. They said their good bye and went their own way.

Sasuke yawned and stretched his arms in the air, while Kakashi packed all the birthday presents in a bag.

"Can you walk home or do you want me to carry you?" He offered when he was finished and noticed once again how tired the boy was.

"Carry..." The Uchiha mumbled and climbed on Kakashi´s back in piggyback style. He clasped his arms around the Jonin´s neck and laid his head on the man´s shoulder.

Sasuke´s was half asleep when Kakashi carried him home. He had such an great day and a small smile still adorned his lips. It was just when his eyes were almost closed that he realized, he hadn´t thought about his parents the whole afternoon. Suddenly a pang of guilt raised inside his chest and he ask himself the question whether he was in the process to forget his family...Before he could find an answer, he fell asleep. But somehow the guilty conscience stayed even in his dreams.

 **Thanks for the reviews :)**

 **I just want to say about the previous Chapter, Sasuke has just the impression that Sakura is a stalker. He is a little boy and he didn´t understand why she always wants to talk to him and finds her annoying. But when he is a bit older, he´ll know her better and his impression will change.**

 **Please let me know what you think and review :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Infantile levity**

Over a month had passed since Sasuke´s birthday and the daily routine had taken place again. For the young Uchiha changed a lot, nevertheless. A part of him felt happy and was grateful for all the new people in his life. There were so many people who cared for him and he couldn´t wish for more, not after everything he lost.

He had even found new friends. Naruto wasn´t his only friend anymore, after his birthday party he had befriended with Shikamaru, Choji and even Kiba. In the course of this, he had always thought they were annoying. Meanwhile he knew better. The most time during the big breaks, he played with Naruto or the other boys. This was perhaps the biggest change, he hadn´t done that since his parents were around. But now he could be carefree most of the time and since he was still top of the class, he could allow himself far more freetime as the others.

His life was nice, even if it was not perfect. He had friends now and his guardian was great too. Kakashi did everything for him and tried his best to make him happy. And Sasuke was happy with him. They shared so much, that he couldn´t imagine a life without Kakashi anymore and still he knew he had lived a life without him before...

Sometimes Shizune visited them. Sasuke always liked her presence. She was very kind and brought always some gift for him. Kakashi seemed to like her too because he was more talkative when she was around. He didn´t knew why this was, but in any case it was his impression.

Sensei Iruka and Naruto visited them often too. Mostly on weekends, but even if they were friends now, sometimes they needed to fight. Friends or not, they couldn´t get always along and a little quarrel wasn´t something alarming. Apparently, Iruka saw that different because they always ended up in trouble, at least Naruto because Kakashi always shielded him from Iruka´s wrath. Sure Sensei Iruka was very nice apart from that too, but Kakashi was much better.

During those days, Sasuke didn´t found much time to think about his life. There was always something to do for him. If not any pursuit, then he had some schoolwork to do. His life was busy and he was happy and technically he could be satisfied...

But then were there these moments, when he laid in his bed awake in the evening, supposed to sleep but couldn´t find rest, because his mind was running with countless questions. And this was the other part, where he couldn´t deny how broken he inwardly really was. All these confusing feelings, when he remembered his mother and wished with all his heart to hug her and he knew he would do everything to get her back.

The boy catched himself again and again, how he compared everyone with his dead family. When Shizune smiled down at him, he called inwardly after his mother. Even if kind and beautiful, she was no match for his mother, because she had been the most beautiful woman.

When Sensei Iruka explained something to him, he thought about his uncles and aunts, who always had found the time to listen to his concerns and helped him to find solutions. While Sensei Iruka was very smart and helpful too, there was no one on the entire world more friendly as his dead family members.

As his guardian, Kakashi was supposed to replace a parent´s role but the little Uchiha wondered, why he couldn´t see him as a father figure. He loved Kakashi with all his heart and that was why he felt so terrible for his thoughts but the Jonin wasn´t anything like his father had been. He had respected his father like nobody else. Although strict, demanding and unyielding, Sasuke had always admired him. For him, his father had been strongest shinobi on the entire world. The cognizance that even his father couldn´t protect his mother and the rest of the clan, was terrible. But it was reality.

The knowledge how much he still missed his family was terrible too, but far more painful was the guilt, which tormented him everytime he recognized how much his life had improved. He was living without his family and the most time he felt happy.

But during the nights, he thought and dreamed about red eyes and dark blood and far worser than the guilt and the nostalgia was the fact, that the person he once called _,brother,_ was still free and unpunished for his crimes. And this thought hurt more than everything else. Sasuke knew he needed to do something, he needed to make things right. This was the least he could do for his family but he still didn´t know how he could do it...

The only thing which was undeniable was that he needed strength. No matter how he would punish that man, without power it would be useless. He wondered what he was supposed to do, but mostly he fell asleep while he pondered about these things.

In the morning, most of his thoughts were forgotten. Sasuke needed to worry about so much during his everyday life and the academy and his private training keep him busy. Sometimes he wanted to talk about his mixed feelings but he was afraid that Kakashi could be hurt and would think that he wasn´t enough for Sasuke. And this would be unfair from him. The silver haired Jonin had done so much for him and the last thing he wanted was to hurt his feelings. Especially, since the Uchiha had to admit to himself that the doubts were indeed true.

That was the reason, why he mostly repressed his true feelings, at least as long he could.

When he was together with Naruto and the others, he thought not a single moment about his family. There was always something to do and so many reasons to laugh that he felt carefree. And although the academy was often long and boring, he liked going to school.

Like today.

It was wednesday and Sensei Iruka were teaching them geography. Their actual topic was the land of waves and why there no shinobi exist. The lesson was a mixture of geography and history and surprisingly, Sasuke liked the topic. The land of waves wasn´t wellknown and it was interesting to learn something about such an unknown country. He would probably never visit this place but he wrote the informations down nevertheless. If Iruka would test them, he wanted to reach the highest score. Being inattentive like Naruto, Kiba or even Shikamaru wasn´t an option for him. Their unobservance always showed on their grades anyway.

Suddenly, the routine interrupted when one of the other teachers entered the room, without knocking or asking for permission. The whole class looked up from their current work and observed the intruder.

"Sorry for disturbing but there is something we need to talk." The teacher said.

The brunette raised his eyebrows. "Right now? As you can see, I´ve classes yet."

"It´s very important and it´s Hokage´s order. Ther´re some things going on inside the village. We need to take precautions."

Most children broke out into an fidgety jabbering. They were all confused what the Hokage ordered the teacher to talk about. Even Sasuke had to admit that he was a bit curious but probably less than his classmates.

"Alright." Iruka said and sighed, before he turned towards his students and gave them a warning look. "Quiet! You´ll continue to work until I return. If I catch someone chatting or fooling around, the whole class will get detention."

With that said, both teachers left the room. The threat worked just for some minutes until the whole class broke out in chatter again.

"Hey, what do you think they´re talking about?" Kiba suddenly asked and nudged his shoulder in order to get his attention.

Sasuke looked at the boy right next to him. Since some weeks, Kiba sat beside him. Before that, he was paired up with Naruto but both boys had always caused trouble and so Iruka had seperated them. Since Sasuke was always quiet and obedient during lessons, Kiba had ended up on the place next to him. Naruto on the other hand hit it harder, he sat right next to Hinata Hyuga, because she was the quietest child in the entire class but for the blonde it was just a punishment. Nobody from the boys wanted to sit next to a girl. It was embarrassing. But the Uzumaki hadn´t an other choice as to give in.

Before the Uchiha could answer, Naruto appeared right next to him. Obviously, his blonde friend had left his place, some other kids did the same but it was clear that Iruka would become very angry, when he would return.

"I want to know what´s going on!" Naruto said loudly. "Something like that never happened before!"

"Yeah, and he mentioned the Hokage. It´s his order." Kiba nodded.

"They´re talking probably just about boring teacher stuff." The raven haired boy said and tried to sound uninterested.

"Comon Sasuke! You want to know it as badly as we do!" Kiba said and this time Naruto nodded in agreement. Both boys looked at him expectant.

Yes, he wanted to know, even if not so badly as the other boys wanted. But they wouldn´t find out about it anyway. It was very unlikely that their sensei would share the informations with them later.

So, the Uchiha simple rolled his eyes. "Even if I want to know, Sensei Iruka will never tell us anyway."

"Maybe he won´t tell us but we can find out nevertheless." Naruto informed and grinned mischievously.

Sasuke sighed inwardly. Whenever Naruto wore that expression, it usual meant that he was sheming something and this always ended in trouble.

"What can we do?" Kiba asked exitedly. Of course the Inuzuka would participate in Naruto´s silly ideas. Although they could be good friends, they were sometimes just far too stupid. Obviously, the blonde was happy to have someone on his side but honestly, Sasuke hadn´t expect something else from the Inuzuka. Both boys had a really high predisposition to bring themself into trouble. But the raven haired boy was not like Kiba or Naruto and he would rather not get involved into their foolery.

"Let´s go looking for Iruka and the other teachers. We´ll eavesdrop on them." The Uzumaki announced proudly.

"This is a great idea!" Kiba cheered and Sasuke rolled his eyes again. Even if he didn´t understood what about Naruto´s plan was out of the ordinary.

"You´ll both get into trouble." He informed his friend and leaned back in his chair.

"But only when we get caught." The Inuzuka declared. "And in case Sensei Iruka comes back before us, we´ll simple say, we had to use the bathroom."

"As if he would believe such lousy excuse." Sasuke said but Naruto and Kiba were already heading for the door. The Uchiha shook his head but suddenly Naruto turned around and stormed back towards his desk.

"Sasuke, what are you waiting for?"

"I didn´t say I would come with you, did I?" The eight years old replied.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Why? Are you afraid of Iruka´s lecture?"

"Don´t be silly." He replied annoyed.

Without acknowledge Sasuke´s words, Naruto turned towards Kiba, who stood already behind him, and said: "You know what, Sasuke is afraid that Iruka could scold him."

Kiba chuckled. "Really?"

The blonde nodded. "Yeah. You know, I get scold all the time but it never bothers me much. I never thought you could be such a scaredy cat."

When he heard Naruto´s words, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and glared daggers at his friend. Sometimes, he asked himself how he could be friendly with the blonde after all. Naruto could be more annoying than anyone else and right now, he felt provoked. Nobody wanted be called a coward, especially not from someone like Naruto.

Before he could say anything to his defense, Kiba spoke up and provoked him even more. "And everyone calls you top of the class, but you´re even a bigger coward than Naruto is."

"Hey, I´m not a coward!" The Uzumaki protested loudly.

Now, he was really angry. It was about his honor after all. "Just because I don´t want to participate in your foolish actions, doesn´t mean I´m afraid!"

"Prove it!" Naruto and Kiba said almost simultaneously.

"I don´t have anything to prove to you!"

"Because you´re a coward!" Of course it was Naruto who insulted him openly. The blonde academy student never knew when it was enough, he was even far more worser than Kiba. "Sasuke is a coward! Sasuke is a coward!"

"Shut up!" The Uchiha snapped and shot his friends a look. "Nice try, but I won´t fail for your stupid efforts. You just want to get me into trouble."

"And if." Kiba said and shrugged his shoulders. "You´re a swot and Sensei would believe you, when you tell him you only went to the bathroom. It wouldn´t hurt if you would act a bit more boisterous sometimes."

Why did it sound from Kiba´s mouth like something bad? Being top of the class and diligent in school wasn´t something bad, but something he could be proud of. At least he didn´t end up almost every day in trouble. However, Naruto and Kiba stood in time-out almost on a day-to-day. But Sasuke had to agree that probably Sensei Iruka wouldn´t get mad at him, since he rarely caused any trouble and perhaps nobody would imagine that the last Uchiha owned indeed a mischievous side as well.

Being only eight years old doesn´t gave them the opportunity often, to learn something about the real Shinobi thing. Sure, they were taught at the academy but this were just lessons. Nevertheless, they didn´t knew what was really going on, inside and outside from Konoha´s walls. Maybe this was why he was curious too. Sasuke knew that it was wrong to spy after their teacher and he knew that doing so, would go against Iruka´s orders too. And he was really willing to obey and stay at his seat. But Naruto´s and Kiba´s pestering made him more and more prying too and he was in the process to give in.

"Fine." He said finally. "Count me in."

"Yes!" Naruto cheered. "Let´s go then!"

The three boys left the classroom without generate any attention. The other childrens were busy with their own issues and the noise level was so high, that nobody noticed their leaving in the slightest. Iruka would be probably more upset to find the whole class in such muddle, as about three boys who went only to the _bathroom._

Outside in the corridor, they didn´t need to look long for their Sensei´s current whereabouts. Kiba´s little dog Akamaru knew Iruka´s scent and simple leaded them towards the right room. It turned out, that all teachers were gathered inside the staff room. They were lucky, the door wasn´t even entirely closed and so they could hear every single word.

Normally, the risk of getting caught was high but Naruto had plenty experience with hiding after all the pranks he pulled, Kiba came from an very skilled Ninja clan and he wasn´t a blank page in terms of pranks either. And Sasuke himself had gotten many advise to mask his chakra signature from Kakashi. So, all three of them knew what they did.

They stayed some feet away from the door but they could understand every word which was spoken clearly. A man spoke, whose voice Sasuke didn´t knew. He was probably one of the teachers who taught the higher classes.

"... We´ve to prepare for an emergency. Lord Hokage ordered me to make sure, every student stayed inside the building until the issue is off the table."

"Is it certain that this guys are already inside the village?" A woman asked and he recognized her voice as one of the third grade teachers.

"Unfortunately yes." The same man said. "But the problem is, their location isn´t trackable. There is already a team outside looking for them. Also, Lord Hokage ordered a curfew, in order to secure the civilian´s safety."

"What I don´t understand is, why the invaders apparently come from Kumogakure." This was unmistakable Sensei Iruka´s voice. "Konoha and Kumo are on good terms now, why would their risk a confrontation all of the sudden and what do they want here?"

"It doesn´t matter. The only important thing is now, to track them down and eliminate this danger immediately." The man said. "It is suspected that the enemie hide inside the forest of death. That´s all I know for now."

"How are..." The woman broke up, before she spoke up again. "Did you hear that?" She suddenly asked and the three eavesdropper frowned.

"No. What do you mean?" Iruka asked confused.

Before she could say something more or even take a look behind the door, the boys sneaked off. There was a too high possibility that the Lady would catch them and nobody wanted to risk that. Besides, they had all the infos they longed for. Even more than that.

"Did you hear? Some strange freaks from Kumo are here!" Kiba said exited, after they were far away from the staff room. "Did someone of you ever see a shinobi from a different village? My sister said they are creepy and do look like monsters!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Sure. They´re probably looking like our shinobi just with a different symbol on their headband." He tried to sound uninterested but he couldn´t hide the fact that he was still exited in some ways.

"But Kiba says the truth. shinobi from other villages are really monsters." Naruto said. "Even Iruka told me so."

"What?" The raven haired asked with disbelieve. "Admit it, you´re lying."

"I´m not! Iruka said me that if I would ever see a shinobi with an foreign symbol on their headbands, I ought ran and inform someone immediately." The Uzumaki protested and glared at Sasuke.

"But that doesn´t mean that they look and act like monsters!" The Uchiha argued. "In fact, real monsters don´t even exist." _With the exception of my own brother..._ He added in his thoughts but shook his head, in order to get rid of this thought again.

"The question is, have you actually ever seen an shinobi from a different nation?" Kiba spoke the decisive question. "How do you know, that they aren´t some art of monsters? My mom said that shinobi from Kumo are real beasts. They killed her two brothers in the third Ninja war and my mom always gets angry whenever Kumogakure is mentioned. She said they´re more cruel than every other shinobi village."

Well, when even Kiba´s mother said so, Sasuke wasn´t entire sure whether there wasn´t a grains of truth in his friends assumptions. He had never seen a ninja from a different village in his entire life. He didn´t knew how they looked and how they fought but if he was honest, he was dying from curiosity.

"You know what? This is our chance to see those guys for real!" Naruto cried and the Uchiha really took this thought into account.

"This is right. It would be a great adventure." The Inuzuka nodded and even Akamaru barked as if he would agree. "We should go and look for this guys ourself. I want to see how they look and what they can do. How often do we get the opportunity to see some strange shinobi from Kumo? Maybe we can even bring them down."

"Yeah, Kumogakure is pretty far away."

"But if we go, than Sensei Iruka will notice that we´re missing. If he hadn´t alredy." Sasuke said and as much as he wanted to join them, it was impossible because they were supposed to be in school. Perhaps, their sensei had already returned to the classroom and was now looking for them.

Kiba and Naruto looked at him with disbelieve.

"Really, I don´t get why you´re the top of our class. Are you sure, you aren´t cheating or something like that?" Naruto chuckled to himself.

Of course Sasuke didn´t found the latest insult funny. "What do you mean?" He demanded, irritated by Naruto´s stupid words.

"We can do the simplest thing on the world. I can already the shadow clone Jutsu. I´ll make a clone of myself and you perform a clone of yourself and one of Naruto." Kiba finally explained.

His eyes widened a bit. If the idea wouldn´t come from Naruto and Kiba, he would almost say it was brilliant. Sasuke could perform the shadow clone jutsu since he was five and meanwhile, he could form three shadow clones without much difficulties. Since Naruto couldn´t perform this jutsu, he needed to make a copy of his blonde friend too. But the Uchiha already knew how to perform this too.

For him, this plan couldn´t fail. They would send their clones back towards the classroom, while they would head out towards the forest of death. Nobody of them, thought about the fact that this stunt could be very dangerous. In this moment, they were just exited eight years old boys, who saw only a great adventure. They hadn´t even thought what they would do, if they really get the possibility to meet the invaders. The boys only wanted to go.

Within some minutes were the three shadow clones formed. While the doubles went towards their classroom obediently, the orginal boy made their way outwards. They were ways too immature as to realize in how dangerous this was. But soon, even they would understand.

 **Hi,**

 **Thanks to Pixie07 for her review! I´m always happy to have your support :)**

 **To this chapter, there isn´t really happening much but the next chapter will be a bit more exiting. The kids will get themself into real danger and I hope you´ll follow along.**

 **I´m aware that there are surely some grammar and spelling mistakes but without a beta it is hard to notice them, since english isn´t my language at all.**

 **I would be happy if you would tell me your opinions and review. critcism is welcome too :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**A dangerous entcounter**

Being eight years old was in many ways favorabbly. After all, they were too small to attract attention and too fast to get caught. The streets were empty anyway and the couple shinobi who were on patrol, surely didn´t expect three academy boys outside on the streets. Probably nobody would take notice from them. Firstly, there weren´t many people outside and the shinobi were busy with doing their work. They were looking for foreign invaders, not for three academy brats, who were skipping school, just to experience their own adventure.

Also, there was nobody looking for them anyway. Their shadow clones sat conscientious in the classroom and as long nobody would look through the charade, they were on the safe side. Perhaps this was the reason why they could move undetected through the village. Maybe it was even a bit too easy.

Sasuke had decided it would be the best to move through the streets. If they would head over the roof tops, sombody could sight them and so they could simple avoid everybody, who would cross their way. Naruto and Kiba agreed and so everything was settled.

The teacher said, the foreign Kumo nins were hiding inside the forest of death and Kiba leaded the way to the aim. Sasuke´s heart beats faster with every step they got closer to the aim.

The forest of death was located at the outline from Konoha. It was giant woodland, which served for training purposes or exams. Even the last chunin exams took place there.

Nobody from the children had ever entered this terrain before and they didn´t knew what to expect. But this only increased their curiosity.

When they passed the last houses, which stood at the outskirts, the forest of death came slowly into view. The three boy headed through the trees, when the terrain became finally fully visible for them. But before they could get any near, Sasuke stopped in his tracks.

"Stop!" He called quitly. Maybe it was because his eyesight was far more pronounced as by his peers, every Uchiha owned sharp eyes even without the sharingan, but he could tell already from the distance, that there were many people gathered.

"What´s wrong?" Naruto asked confused.

"Psst!" He pressed his finger against his lips as an sign to be quiet. "There are so many people."

Kiba´s dog Akamaru began to sniffle. A moment later he was squeaking something in the boy´s ear. "All right." The dog owner said. "Over there are ten Konoha shinobi. We need to look for a different entrance or they´ll caught us at once."

He nodded. "Can Akamaru lead us to a spot where aren´t anyone positioned?" He asked.

"Of course. He´s already in the process."

"Then hurry, before someone notices us." The Uzumaki warned.

Akamaru was quite useful. It was impressive how fast the dog could find a new solution for them, although he was only a puppy yet. Sasuke wondered how pronounced the dog´s sense of smell would become, when he would be adult. Shinobi dogs were already a great thing, particularly from the Inuzuka Clan. The Uchiha boy had read a lot about this topic lately and he found the close cooperation between human and animal amazing. Maybe he should ask Kakashi for summoning his ninken again. Perhaps one of the dogs would accept him as their master too. Getting a intimate mind would be really cool.

"We need to head in the left direction." Kiba said and drove his attention back to the current subject.

Before he could think about Kakashi´s ninken, he should concentrate on the current situation. Sasuke was very exited but at the same time he hoped, that they would find a possibility, to get unremarked inside the forest. Of course, the perspective of meeting strange shinobi from another village was a thrilling thing for eight years old boys. No wonder, that all three of them didn´t thought about the danger and consequence of such light-hearted conduct.

But the penetration of foreign shinobi was a serious matter and the three academy students weren´t supposed to be elsewhere as inside the safe academy building. Perhaps it was because nodody expected them somewhere else, that they couldn´t move freely and nobody detected them. Luckily for the boys, who moved unmolested further. And more luck was on their side, when they arrived at the next spot and no one else was noticeable.

Sasuke allowed himself a pleased smirk, when he and his friends stepped towards the wire fence which seperated the forest from the rest of the village. It was obvious why this part was still unguarded. The plant were grow together and the fence was hardly visible. It was unlikely that adults could manage they way inside such location but for three kids was this of course a minor problem.

Without hesitation, the raven haired boy grabbed a kunai from his pouch and began cutting through the wire, a second later Naruto and Kiba were following his example. The fence was old and rusty, but it was far more difficult to cut through the thick plant stems. It was a good thing he carried the sharp Kunai which he had gotten from Kakashi to his birthday almost anywhere. When he noticed that the two other boys had more difficulties as he, because they used the blunt academy weapons, he handed them both one of his precious Kunai. At least they got on very faster now.

It was quite troublesome to crawl through the small openings, the scrub offered. He always wished to grow up fastly but right now, Sasuke was very glad that he wasn´t tall at all. Otherwise he would hardly get through. Naruto crawled forward, still cutting their way free. But it were metres they had to ford and his knees felt already sore from the rough and hard terrain.

"Oh man!" The Uzumaki whined. "Is there still an end in sight? I can´t look through all the growths!"

"Be quiet Naruto!" Sasuke said and followed directly after his friend. "We need to be careful or we´ll cause attention!"

"Why?" Kiba asked behind him. "There is nobody near."

"How do you know that?" He asked back with sarcasm in his voice. "I mean, since when did you become a sensor nin?"

"For the second time today, your´re quite stupid Sasuke. Akamaru can smell humans of kilometres distance!" The dog owner snapped.

"Wow! I should ask Iruka for an dog too!" Naruto cried amazed and the Uchiha rolled his eyes. Of course, ninja dogs were fantastic but Kiba´s statement was absolutely overpraised but he let it go. Since Sasuke was a silent admirer of these dogs himself ,after all.

"You should really ask him! If you get a dog, he can play with Akamaru." The Inuzuka said and his white dog barked in agreement.

"We need to keep quit nevertheless." He reminded. "When Konoha shinobi catch us, they´ll bring us back to the academy immediately. And then we will not only get into trouble, but we´ll never see those Kumo nins."

"Don´t piss your pants. I told you there is nobody around."

He snorted. "As if I would ever trust your judgement."

"Without me you wouldn´t even found this entrance!" Kiba argued.

"But it wasn´t you, it was Akamaru who leaded us here!" Naruto called back.

Sasuke smirked. "Well, Naruto has a point."

The kids continued their bickering for a while, until the Uzumaki grabbed the word again."Finally, we´re really inside!"

Indeed, Sasuke could raise to his full height again. It was a relief, since his knees and palms were already scuffed up. Although, the plants were still overgrown, the gaps were bigger and they could finally walk normally. And already after some steps ahead, huge trees came into view, so big that they couldn´t even the the tree crowns. The trunk was covered with dark green moss, only some inches showed the red brown bark.

It was dark here. The high trees occulted the view of the sky. He observed the place with wide eyes. He had never seen a forest like that. At the same time, Konoha owned a lot of forests. But these are different from this one. They were beautiful with green meadows between the trees and birds which chirped from sunrise until sunset. There were animals home and it was nice there. But this place...

It was completely quit. Nothing was to hear, not even the twitter of a bird. It seems not even animals lived here, as if this place was completely abandoned. Sasuke understood yet, why this place was called _forest of death._ A very fitting name indeed.

"It´s creepy here. The perfect place for those monsters to hide." Naruto said, his blue eyes observing the surroundings attentively.

"If they´re monsters at all."

"We´ll never find out when we waste more time. Let´s go and find them." Kiba said and he and Naruto nodded in agreement.

They continued their way through the strange forest. It was sinister here and Sasuke wondered, if they would be able to find those Kumo nins at least. Alone the trees were so high and when those guys would hide there, it would be impossible for them to climb up. They hadn´t simple the chakra control yet. But on the other hand, Akamaru could sniff human smells. Maybe they could be lucky after all, and get a look at the foreign intruders.

It didn´t lasted long and the kids were lost. They didn´t know from where they came, neither where they were heading. All the further they went forwards, Sasuke couldn´t help but felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Perhaps it hadn´t been the best idea to come here after all. This was complete foreign territory for them and the terrain was enormously.

"It is just me or have we lost the orientation?" Kiba asked and apparently Sasuke wasn´t the only one who noticed.

"No way. Our main concern is finding the Kumo guys, then we can think about the way back. You know, I´ll lead us from here out again, so don´t worry." Well, obviously everyone, expect for the Uzumaki, had noticed. But although the response had been stupid in many ways, Naruto had a point nevertheless. They were already here and going back and looking for an way out would take a huge amount of time. Time they could use for finding those shinobi from Kumogakure.

Soon, they wandered over a hour through the forest. There was still no sign of those Kumo guys and neither of Konoha shinobi, who were supposed to look for those strangers. The Uchiha was confused why they didn´t meet a single soul in here. The teacher had said clearly, the intruders were hiding inside the forest of death. But slowly he got tired from walking and regretted to come here.

"I´m hungry and thirsty... And I can´t go any further, my legs hurt." Naruto whinned and sat down on the ground.

"I´m tired too." Kiba said, when he and Sasuke sat down as well.

"It was probably a bad idea to come here. I never thought this place could be so huge."

"Yeah, Sasuke is right. I thought it would be much fun but this is only annoying and stupid. Even Iruka´s lessons are more enjoyable and this comes from me, you know I hate school." Naruto said tiredly. And normally the blonde was the most hyperactive person on the entire world.

"What should we do now? If we continue our search we won´t probably find our way back until sundown." The raven haired Uchiha pointed out.

"My mother will kill me, when I arrive after sundown!"

"Iruka will freak out too. "

Sasuke was sure Kakashi wouldn´t mind but he couldn´t risk that they would get caught. They couldn´t hold up the shadow clones permanently and they should better find a solution before school termination.

"We should head back." He said therefore. "They´ve probably already caught those Kumo guys. That´s why nobody else is here to find."

The Inuzuka nodded. "This could be the most logical explanation."

"Oh no! All the trouble for nothing! This isn´t fair!" Came Naruto´s loud lamentation.

The three boys made up their minds and decided to look for the way back, before someone would notice their absence. Besides it was somewhat embarrassing for them, that their little plan went so terrible wrong.

When they were about to get up, Akamaru began suddenly to bark and they all looked at the white animal questioningly.

"Akamaru whats´wrong?" Kiba kneeled down before his dog and caressed his head but the animal wouldn´t calm down. On the contrary, Akamaru growled and bared his teeth.

"What is his problem?" Naruto wondered aloud and directed his question at Kiba.

"I don´t know..." The dog owner said confused. "Hey Akamaru buddy, what´s up with you?"

The dog´s barking became louder and suddenly a loud bang sounded. Before they could react, they were surrounded with smoke. Obviously a smoke bomb was the cause.

Sasuke coughed. He pressed his arm against his mouth and tried not to inhale the smoke. He had lost the sight of his friends but he could hear their coughing and Akamaru´s panicked baying. He tried to observe his surroundings but it was unable to see clearly. He wasn´t able to recognize chakra signatures yet and he was clueless who was behind the attack. It was improbable that Konoha shinobi were the culprits and so stayed only one option open, that they ran directly in the arms of these Kumo guys. The Uchiha tried not to panic, when he heard Naruto cry suddenly. He couldn´t see anything, a second later he was roughly pushed to the ground. His chin and chest made painfully contact with the hard ground and he gasped in pain and shock. But the pain was nothing to the feeling of distress he felt, when he couldn´t get up because something was restraining him.

Naruto was yelling something and he recognized even Kiba´s voice. The barking of Akamaru was terrible loud that he drowned every other noise. Than all of the sudden, the dog went quite. The raven haired gasped again, inwardly praying that the little dog was alright.

"Akamaru!" Kiba cried out, but Sasuke wasn´t sure how far he was away from the brunette.

He wanted to call for his friends but a dangerous chuckle interrupted him. He tried to look to look up when the sight began to clear, but who or what restrained him pushed him down again. His heart was beating fastly, when he recognized that he was completely helpless. And he wasn´t even ashamed to admit that he was scared.

 **So, the boy´s will get in a huge amount of trouble :)**

 **Please let me know what you think and review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sharingan**

Narrowed, dark green eyes were staring down at. A cruel smirk underlined the strange pleasure, this guy must feel about his superiority. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see that the man had dark silver hair. It was almost the same hue Kakashi´s hair had, but this guy was ways larger and more muscular as his guardian and the colossal appearance let this man only seem more terrifying. He had noticed that the stranger wore a headband with the symbol of Kumogakuro on it. So, they really found those guys. But with every second the boy regretted their decision to look for them.

The man pushed his foot harder on his back and the Uchiha boy gasped. Surely this guy owned a lot of power, if he managed to hold his struggeling body down with only using his foot.

"Let me go!" He heard Naruto yell and he lifted his head slightly and saw how Naruto was grabbed by a woman with long brown hair, and pushed against a tree. Kiba and Akamaru were lying at the ground, restrained by a grid which pinned them to the ground. To his shock, Akamaru seemed to be unconscious, or even worse dead.

"What are we going to do with the brats now?" The woman said, her voice was unusally deep and if she wouldn´t look so female, one could mistaken her voice for a man.

"Letting them go is out of the hook." The guy, who was holding him down answered. "We haven´t completed our mission yet. So, we can´t risk to get caught just because of a bunch of curious brats. Kill them and then let´s continue."

"Alright, just let´s do it quickly."

Sasuke froze in shock. This guys were really planning to kill them! He struggled and tried free himself but the man was too strong. He heard Naruto´s yelling and even Kiba was shouting something. Only Akamaru wasn´t making any sound yet and the little Uchiha was really worried about the dog. But perhaps he should rather worry about himself yet, according to this guys, he would be dead in some minutes.

He couldn´t die yet. Not when life became finally bearable, maybe even happy for him! Not before he got justice for his family, even if he still couldn´t understand what exactly that meant. It wasn´t the right time to die!

A cluttering sound reached his ears, and he was quite familiar with these noise. It was the same, he heard over and over, everytime he pulled a Kunai from his weapon pouch. So this was it. The Uchiha couldn´t help and felt a knot in his throat. He was scared, almost as badly he had been, the night his family got murdered. Naruto was still yelling, but the raven haired boy stopped struggeling, thinking that maybe if just holds still, everything would be over quickly.

But instead of pain, caused by a Kunai, the man grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him up. Sasuke began to struggle again, when he hung insecure in the air, trying to bring the Kumo guy to let go of him. Of course he wasn´t that lucky.

"Look at this!" The man commanded and carried him over to the woman. These large hands lifted him so that his back was in view for the Kunoichi. Still the raven haired boy didn´t knew the reason for the sudden hesitate was.

"This is the clan symbol of the Uchiha."

"Yes, but I heard they were all killed, expect for some single brat." The man confirmed the woman´s statement. "Do you think we´re that lucky that the last survivor of Konoha´s strongest clan ran right in our hands."

"Although, I can hardly imagine that such brat is really the last remnant of such feared clan."

"Doesn´t matter. This kid is our ticket out. Konoha will do everthing to keep their precious bloodline. We can virtually demand what we want."

The woman snorted. "Yeah, sure. But that will propably count for the Hyuga bloodline too. You know what our true mission is, do you?"

"Of course. We need to get the Byakug.."

"Quiet moron!" The kunoichi snapped. "This kids can hear you."

"So what? They won´t breathe in a moment anymore."

"Tst. Leave the thinking part better to me." She said, before she suddenly looked directly at Sasuke again. "What´s your full name, boy?"

He swallowed for a moment, when the man roughly turned him around so that he could face the woman. Her piercing green eyes observing him searchingly, he noticed that her eye color was the almost the same, like her male partner owned. In the meantime, Sasuke grasped why those guys were in Konoha. Apparently, they wanted to get the Hyuuga clan´s bloodline and additionally, he suspected that the Kunmo nins were only hiding in the forest of death, because most Konoha shinobi were already looking for them, and now they needed a plan B.

"Answer me!"

A sudden fiercing pain pulled him from his thoughts, when the woman slapped him clean across the face. Sasuke hissed in pain and he was shocked. Never before, he got hit so violently and he needed a second to progress what just happened.

"Leave him alone!" Naruto yelled angrily and fought against the grip, the woman still had on him. "If you want to fight someone, than come to me!"

"Just shut this brat up, or we´ll be located in no time." The man pointed out and with an eye roll, she obeyed by raming her elbow in a flash into Naruto´s chest. The Uzumaki´s mouth snapped after air, before he turned over and fell unconscious. The Kunoichi let go of her hold and with a bump he hit the ground face down.

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried, when he saw that his friend wasn´t moving.

"And now, let us come to you." She grabbed him by the collar, pulled him away from the other guy and slammed him roughly against the same tree trunk Naruto was pinned until a second ago. He bit his lip, when his back made contact with the hard wood.

"I´ll ask you again, what´s your name?" Her deep voice was hard and intimidating and the Uchiha tried his best not to show openly that he was afraid. "And I´m warning you, if you refuse to speak, your next friend will be my victim." She added threateningly and pointed towards Kiba.

It was obvious that the little dog owner was afraid, because his whole body trembled. Even Sasuke could see it, when he turned his head weakly in his direction. Akamaru still wasn´t moving and the Uchiha become more frightened with every second which passed.

"My name is Sasuke..." He mumbled, afraid to say his last time. Obviously those guys holded a strong interest in the fact, that he was an Uchiha and he knew that there were people who could want his bloodline. His father told him, not long before the masacre, that Uchihas were always wanted by other villagers, because the sharingan was the most powerful dojutsu. But Sasuke still didn´t possessed the sharingan, even if he often secretly wished to have it already.

"Your full name!" The woman snapped and hit him again. The raven haired boy gasped, when her palm made contact with his other cheek.

"Sasuke U.. Uchiha..." He stammered out.

The two Kumo nins were smirking at eachother, before the woman looked back at him. "Well Sasuke Uchiha, you´re the last survivor of your clan, right?"

He swallowed down all the tears, which wanted to escape his eyes. Crying wouldn´t bring him anywhere, like it didn´t help him the night his family was murdered. Instead, he should rather think carefully about a way to save his friends and himself. After all, those guys wanted to kill them already some minutes ago, and that they were so much interested in the fact that he was an Uchiha, could maybe buy them some time. Perhaps Sensei Iruka had in the meantime noticed that they were missing and some shinobis were already looking for them. Nevertheless, he forced himself to nod.

"Very well, then show us your famous sharingan."

The raven haired boy gasped. He didn´t had his sharingan awoken yet.

"Hurry up!" She demanded and slapped him again.

This time, Sasuke swallowed down a whimper which wanted escape his lips. He looked down and felt scared, lost and even angry at himself for not having awoken his sharingan already. He wished for years to get it, but until now nothing happened. His mother had used to say that he was way too young for the sharingan and that it was unlikely that he would awaken it before he would graduate from the academy. But it had always been just a weak comfort, at that time, like now.

It was hard to understand why the person, he hated the most now, was able to activate the sharingan when he was in Sasuke´s age. Even back then, when he hadn´t known that his brother would turn out into a family murder, the little boy envied him. And now he hated it even more, because the fact that he still couldn´t awaken his family´s dojutsu, was proof enough about how much stronger this murder was.

"I... I can´t..." He eventually said, looking down and feeling ashamed about his own weakness.

"Are you kidding me?" She hissed and it was obvious that she was about to explode. It seemed, as if this woman was far more short-tempered than the other guy.

"No. I can´t activate my sharingan yet..."

"Guess, he´s probably still too young." The other Kumo guy said. "I´ve heard, that unlike the Hyuuga, members of the Uchiha clan activate their dojutsu on a certain age."

"So this little shit is wothless now?" Obviously, she was refering to Sasuke.

"Depends. As the last living Uchiha, he is precious for Konoha with or without Sharingan yet. I say, we keep him as hostage and kill the other both."

The woman was thinking for a moment, before she nodded and Sasuke´s body froze. They would really kill Naruto and Kiba! And he would watch important people die in front of him, again. Again and again, he was too weak to do anything!

The man nodded and pulled a Kunai out. He stepped towards Kiba, who was crying silenty. He closed his eyes, this couldn´t happen, could it? He couldn´t protect his family and now he didn´t manage to save his friends too. He was such an failure.

 _Foolish little brother, you´re weak and you´re worthless. Killing you would be a waste of time. Continue to run away, like the coward you´re and if you want to kill me, than hate me, despise me and cling to your life. And if you´ve someday the same eyes as me, come and face me._

The blood was rushing to his head. Never before, he remembered Itachi´s words from that night more clearly as he did now. Why was he thinking about this just now? Was it because was about to face a similar situation again. Watching important people die again? And his friends were important for him. But the image of his dead parents blended with the imagination of Kiba´s and Naruto´s corpses. He couldn´t breathe, neither think clearly, when he suddenly felt a wave of adrenaline racing through his small body. His eyes were burning and his sight had never been sharper before. He saw red, but Sasuke didn´t paid much attention to that. His mind was off and he acted purely on reflex, when he suddenly kicked his leg high and hit the woman on her chin.

Probably, she didn´t expected that, because she let go of him and stumbled back. Sasuke, himself, didn´t knew from where he took that strenggth now, his body was moving on it´s own. All he could think of, he needed to save his friends.

Like a shinobi in battle, Sasuke formed handsigns and spit a big fireball in the direction of the man, who was just bending over Kiba. Of course, the guy had to dodge and jumped in the air. The Uchiha headed towards his friend and realeased him from the net, before the fire could make contact with him.

"We need to get Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, when Kiba grabbed Akamaru and hurried after the raven haired. Maybe the smoke, the fire caused, would reveal their location and Konoha shinobi would be here in no time.

He was hoping, that they could get Naruto and try to escape but apparently, those Kumo guys hadn´t the intention of letting them go. Before Sasuke could even touch Naruto´s body, the woman appeared behind him, grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the ground.

"You little shit! You´ll pay for that stunt." She hissed, turned him around and pushed a Kunai against his throat.

And then everything happened too fast. His head began to sting, and the burning sensation in his eyes became even worse. He didn´t notice his surroundings anymore, his body felt numb. He saw, how the woman´s eyes widened, before she let out an shrill scream, than she simple passed out. Her motionless body laid on the top of his own. It became more difficult for him to breathe and his head was stinging too much, that he thought it could explode any second.

Another scream was to hear and Sasuke couldn´t tell whether these voice belonged to Kiba or the other Kumo shinobi. His ears were buzzing and it became impossible for him to tell, what just happened around him.

More noises were to hear, but he couldn´t tell what the cause of it was. There were more voices, screams and shouting, but his head was dizzy and maybe he was just imagine things now. He didn´t know how much time passed, when suddenly two large hands lifted the woman´s body from him, but this was the last thing he remembered, before someone picked him up and everything went black.

 **Hi,**

 **Big thanks to Pixie07 and XYZArtemis for your nice reviews :)**

 **I hope the next chapter will be a bit longer than this and please review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Worry and incomprehension**

When Sasuke opened his eyes, he couldn´t discover his surroundings. For a short moment, he felt lost and abandoned. Pictures of a strange green eyed man and woman with similary eyes and a hard and deep voice, appeared in his head. He blinked some times, until the memories came back.

"Naruto! Kiba!" He cried and sat up without thinking. His head answered with a stinging pain and his eyes were burning like fire, when he observed his surroundings.

He was in a room with white walls and a smell, which corrosive someones nose. It didn´t need a genius to figure out, that he was in a hospital room. But why was he here? He and his friends were supposed to be in the forest of death... And this wasn´t just a dream, for that were his memories way too clear. Did someone found them? But where were Naruto and Kiba then? He needed to find out what was going on. But when he was about to climb out of the bed, a familiar female voice let him stop in his tracks.

"You should rest for some more time Sasuke." Shizune said and grabbed his shoulders and forced him gently to lie down.

Sasuke hadn´t noticed, when she entered but he didn´t care in that moment. The only thing he needed were answers. "Where are Naruto and Kiba? Are they alright?" He bubbled out, without thinking.

"Shht, clam down honey." She said and tucked him in. "They´re fine. Naruto is sleeping in another room and Kiba is already picked up by his mother. You don´t need to worry anymore, you´re safe now."

"What about these Kumo guys?" He asked and failed to hide his fear.

"They´re captured. Don´t worry anymore." She stroked his head softly. "You should sleep a bit more. You´re exhausted, I can see that."

"My eyes are burning and my head hurts."

"You´re suffering from a light chakra exhaustion. You need just some rest and you´ll feel fine again."

He did hear just the half of what she said. The boy was still too overwhelmed with what just happened. "I didn´t mean to put Naruto and Kiba in danger, we were just..."

"Shht, it´s alright now, okay. Nobody is mad. We´re just happy nothing happen to you." Shizune said kindly and in that moment she reminded him on his mother. "Try to catch some sleep, you need it."

"Where is Kakashi?"

"He´ll be here soon, so don´t worry. And until he arrives, you can sleep a bit more, okay?"

"Okay..." He nodded relucantly, but really felt exhausted and so resting was probably the best solution for now. Shizune said, he suffered under chakra exhaustion but how could that happen? Since he couldn´t and hadn´t done anything what could´ve drained his chakra. These were his last thoughts, before he fall back into a deep slumber.

xxx...xx

When Kakashi finally reached the hospital, it was already dark. This day had been one of the most terrible in his life. The worry, when he was informed that Sasuke and the other both were missing, was something he wanted never feel again. He still couldn´t grasp how this could happen, but sometime he got the message that the three were found in the forest of death, in the grip of those Kumo guys, who were sought-after for hours. The kids were brought to the hospital and though he was informed, that they weren´t hurt, he wanted nothing more as to see it with his own eyes.

But he wasn´t allowed to do so. His abilities were needed. While the male invader from Kumo was already interrogated for a while now, spend Kakashi those past hours with waking the female intruder from a powerful genjutsu up. A genjutsu apparently casted by a sharingan user. A fact, which brought the Hokage and the council into high spirits. A fact, which troubled Kakashi deeply. There was only one person, expect for him, who could be able to perform such genjutsu and this was Sasuke.

Sasuke, an eight year old kid, whom shouldn´t be able to activate his sharingan yet, even less perform genjutsu of such high standard. He was no fool and knew that it had been probably the shock which made it able for Sasuke to awake his kekkei genkkei. Alone this fact gave him an uncomfortable feeling. Presumably, the kids were in so much danger, that the fear let the sharingan appear. He didn´t wanted to think what this incident could have made with Sasuke. Even after all the progress, the boy was still traumatized by the massacre. It had been his main concern to keep Sasuke as long as possible away from violence and death, but yet all his efford could have been for the vain.

His pace quickened when he saw Shizune on the corridor. He called out for her at once.

"Kakashi..." She wanted to greet him, but he interrupted her immediately.

"Where is he?"

"Calm down. He´s alright only a bit exhausted but awake now and waiting for you." The dark hairen woman reassured.

He was relieved but he wanted to see his ward with his own eyes now. Without saying another word, Shizune led him to Sasuke´s room. The little Uchiha was awake and sat upright in the bed but even now, Kakashi could tell that he was still exhausted.

"Kakashi!" The child called out, when he entered the room.

Without wasting time, he stepped near, sat down on the bed and pulled Sasuke in a tight embrace. "I´m so glad you´re alright."

"I´m fine." Sasuke muttered into Kakashi´s shoulder. "But I´m glad you´re here yet."

"Let me have a look at you." He said, when he grabbed the boy´s shoulders and observed him carefully. "How are you feeling?"

"I´m fine now, really. I just want to go home..."

"What happened out there?"

Sasuke looked away and said nothing and Kakashi asked the question, which bothered him since he learned about the incident.

"Why were you three in the forest of death? You were supposed to be in the academy, safe and protected. I don´t understand why you were there, please explain this to me."

The way the boy avoided his eye , let him become suspicious. Kakashi hadn´t spoken to Iruka yet, neither had Shizune. So they didn´t know more about the incident. But somehow he got the feeling that Sasuke wasn´t blameless on that.

"Sasuke?" He said soft but firmly, when the kid didn´t answered.

"Don´t be mad, okay? It wasn´t our intention, that things would escalate like this... We went there voluntarily..." Now it was out and Sasuke was observing Kakashi´s reaction tensely.

And the Jonin really needed a moment to progress these said words. "How? Every academy instructor had the order to keep the students inside the building."

The raven haired boy hesitated for a moment. He avoided eye contact again. "We sent shadow clones back in the classroom and we left the academy unnoticed..."

"You left the academy on your own?"

"Because we wanted to see these Kumo guys with our own eyes... I´m sorry, I know it was wrong..."

Kakashi wasn´t sure whether he heard right or not. "Excuse me? You went there although you knew that there were foreign shinobi in our village. You, three academy students wanted to face intruders of jonin level?!" 

"We didn´t knew that it would be dangerous. We didn´t me..."

"You weren´t supposed to leave the academy in the first place!" The silver haired man interrupted angrily, when he realized that the kids could have simple killed themselves. "How did you even learn about it? I´m sure Iruka didn´t told you about it."

The Uchiha lowered his eyes again. It was obvious how much Kakashi´s visible anger unsettled him. Nevertheless, he felt the demanding look of his guardian and this made it impossible for him to withhold the answer.

"Sensei Iruka didn´t told us... We were eavesdroping on him and some other teachers..."

"Only because of that, you three put yourself in so much danger?" Kakashi snapped angrily and stood up. "You three could be dead, only because of some childish curiosity?!"

"I said, I´m sorry!" Sasuke protested. "You don´t need to yell at me!"

"You shouldn´t have left the academy in the first place!" He raised his voice further and Kakashi didn´t knew why. But only one thought crossed his mind. Sasuke, the boy he had sworn to protect, could be dead only because of such childish stupidity.

"But I can´t change it now. I´m sorry, okay?" Maybe the Uchiha was taken aback himself. He knew his guardian as a calm and understanding person and until now, Kakashi never became angry with him. He couldn´t understand why the man was acting so different now.

"Would you still be sorry, if Naruto or Kiba would be several injured or worse dead? Or could you still be sorry, if you were killed? Killed only because of an act of stupidity? Tell me Sasuke, I want to hear it from you."

Sasuke felt confused, hurt and angered by Kakashi´s behaviour. He couldn´t understand why the Jonin was yelling at him. Of course, he thought that he would be displeased with what happened, but rather he expected that the silver haired would comfort him after that incident. Now he was angry and the boy had never saw him so short-tempered before.

"What´s done is done. I can´t change it yet..." The boy replied with a truculent tone.

"Then maybe you shouldn´t have done it in the first place!"

The eight year old said nothing. Just looked down and hoped that his guardian would calm down soon. He never thought that he could do something, which could bring the Jonin to lose his composure like that. There, he always asumed, no matter what he did, Kakashi could never become angry at him. His black eyes were following his guardian, when he went up and down and drove his hand through his silver and unruly hair. Suddenly, the man stopped in his tracks and looked directly at Sasuke.

"Tell me what would your parents do with you?"

Unbelievable, that Kakashi had the nerve to bring his parents up in the conversation! It made Sasuke angry and he thought about refuse to answer. But somehow the man´s look forced him to answer.

"I wouldn´t have done it when my parents were around..." He replied sincerely.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. He was surprised about Sasuke´s answer but he probably shouldn´t it be. No matter how much he cared and loved that boy, he would never replace his parents and Sasuke would never respect him the way he respected his dead mother and father. Nevertheless, this wasn´t the topic yet. "And why is that?"

"Because... they would´ve punished me, if I would´ve done something like that..." The boy said hesitantly. It made him uncertain that Kakashi´s art to scold him, reminded him somehow on his parents, but surely the Jonin wouldn´t punish him, would he?

"And why shouldn´t I do the same?"

The boy looked at him with wide eyes. He really hadn´t expected this reaction.

"After everything you´ve done you sh..."

"Kakashi, it´s enough now." Shizune suddenly interrupted and only now they noticed that she was still standing at the doorframe.

Said Jonin turned his head towards her. "Shizune please stay out of this. Sasuke needs to understand the seriousness of what he has done."

"I think he already understands it." She said firmly. "I was with him, when he woke up. I saw, how worried he was about his friends and how scared that something could´ve happen to them. Sasuke knows how serious all of this is and how lucky they´re that they came out of it unharmed. Instead of yelling or threaten to punish him, you should listen first and let him explain it."

"She is right Kakashi." Sasuke added quickly, happy that Shizune was on his side. "I know what we did was wrong. And I know that far worse things could´ve happen to us... I promise I´ll never do something like that again. I´m just glad, we´re all safe now. Please don´t be angry anymore."

Kakashi sighed deeply. "I´m just angry because I care for you Sasuke. The thought that something could´ve happen to you... I can´t bear that, do you understand?"

"I know, I just..." For the first time, Sasuke realized how worried his guardian must have been, when he learned about what happened. It made him feel very terrible and tears were welling up in his eyes, but he fought with all his willpower not to shed a single one.

"Promise me that you´ll never do something this foolish again." The Jonin demanded firmly. "Promise me, that you´ll never do that to me again, you´ll never risk your life like that without a reason ever again? Is that clear?" 

The boy nodded guiltily.

"Sasuke, you´re a good kid and we know that." Shizune said softly. "If you understand, than just leave this incident behind and move on. Tomorrow is a new day."

"Okay..." He muttered but was depressed by Kakashi´s still present anger.

"If you´re rested enough, you can leave the hospital yet. Are these good news?" She smiled at him, but Sasuke didn´t feel like smiling back. But at least he nodded. 

Fifteen minuted later, he and Kakashi were leaving the hospital. Nobody said anything and somehow he had the feeling that the subject wasn´t done for his guardian yet. It made him feel even more uncomfortable. The more, he was glad when they finally arrived at home. Kakashi sent him to bed immediately and Sasuke was quick to obey. It was already late anyway.

When he laid finally in his own bed, the blancket firmly wrapped around his tiny body, all these emotions escaped. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and he sobbed quietly in his pillow. In this moment he longed for his mother. He wished she would be here and would comfort him after everything what happened. The comfort only a mother could offer to her child, together with the feeling that everything was alright. Pushing down, the painful sting in his heart, Sasuke tried to comfort himself with the though that tomorrow would be another day and surely Kakashi would´ve calmed down until tears were dried when he fell finally asleep and only his heavy breath was proof for his distress.

 **Thanks to Pixie07 and Fanofthisfiction for your reviews and great support :D**


	21. Chapter 21

**Throwback**

The next morning, the tension was still there. Kakashi was unusual silent and Sasuke couldn´t help but felt that he was still angered about the former days event. It made him feel uncomfortable, especial when he didn´t even ate breakfast together with him. For the first time, since he knew his guardian, the man was acting strange. Very strange. And he was not sure whether the incident from yesterday was the only reason for it.

"Eat breakfast and than come to the living room. I´ve some important things to discuss with you." Kakashi told him, when he woke him up. With that said, the man had vanished in his own bedroom and the little Uchiha was confused about this behaviour.

After a short shower and getting dressed, he went to the kitchen, where breakfast was served on the table. He hadn´t much appetite and so he just poked with his chopsticks through his rice.

It bothered him more as he would admit aloud, that the silver haired seemed to be still quite angry at him. There, he never thought that Kakashi was someone who holds grudge for long. But apparently he was wrong about it. He never saw him so shirty before.

Sasuke knew he and his friends messed up terrible. Looking for those Kumo guys had been a big mistake and he still quivered when he thought about yesterday. They were really lucky, they came out of it unharmed. Understandable Kakashi was upset. But he was sorry and he already told him so. What else could he do?

Maybe he should apologize properly again, so that he would believe him that he was truly sorry and that he would never do such a thing. This was probably what Kakashi wanted to hear, wasn´it? And in the end, he already told him yesterday how worried he was. Worry was a sign that he cared and the raven haired boy had every reason to feel sorry for putting Kakashi through this.

Sighing, he placed the chopsticks down and stood up. He should go and see what the Jonin wanted to talk about, even if he felt slightly nervous when he approached the living room.

He entered quitly but was sure that he was noticed nevertheless. Kakashi sat on the couch, arms crossed and his eye closed. He wasn´t wearing his mask and so he looked as if he was thinking. In which he could still be angry, Sasuke couldn´t tell that for sure.

"Come sit down." The older male ordered calmy.

"Are you still mad about yesterday?" Sasuke said without moving.

"Come here, I want to talk about some things."

"If it´s about yesterday, I´m really sorry. I won´t do something like that again." He blurted out and his voice sounded almost a bit desperate.

The silver haired looked at him directly with his one visible eye. Although the mask wasn´t covering his face, he still covered his left eye with a black headband. Sasuke once asked him why, and he told him that his eye got hurt during a mission. Of course he believed him, since a long scar covered a part of the left side of his face.

"It´s not only about yesterday but something else I need to talk to you about." Kakashi said calmy. "And I´m not angry at you but I was worried. That´s a difference. Come sit down."

Reluctantly, Sasuke sat down next to Kakashi, in which he took care not to sit too close to the adult. Somehow, he couldn´t believe him that he wasn´t angry anymore.

"You´re acting strange..." He blurted out. "I´m sure, you´re still mad at me."

Kakashi smiled at him, but it was a tired smile and somehow he had the feeling that the Jonin was really concerned about something.

"I just hope you´ve learned your lesson. This stunt was really uncalled for. Everything could´ve happen to you. You should realize that. And this shouldn´t have happen in the first place."

Was Kakashi really lecturing him again?

"I said I´m sorry!"

"You should be sorry."

"I´m sorry!" Sasuke said, his voice raising a bit. How long was Kakashi planning on letting him suffer under his own guilt?

"Okay, that´s all I want to hear from you." The silver haired reached out and ruffled his dark hair. "There is something I want to tell you..."

"Has it something to do about yesterday too?" He asked, feeling reliieved that the Jonin´s anger apparently wasn´t as big as he asumed first and hoped that they could leave this incident finally behind.

"Partly..." Kakashi let out an deep sigh, and Sasuke wondered what was making feel his guardian so uncomfortable. "I should´ve told you this already but I never knew how I can explain this to you... But after what happened yesterday, I can´t withhold it any longer."

"What do you mean?" Now, the Uchiha was really confused.

"Just promise me to listen until I´m finished. Than you can ask me what you want."

"I promise. But I don´t understand..."

"You once asked me about my left eye, remember?" Kakashi looked at him and when Sasuke nodded, he continued. "I told you about those mission where it got hurt but this was just the half truth..."

"I don´t know why you bring this up all of the sudden..."

"You promised you´ll listen until the end."

"Sorry." The boy bit his lower lip and gave the man a sign to continue.

"It´s alright." The adult smiled before his gaze wandered to the ceiling. "It´s the truth that my eye got hurt on these mission but I wasn´t there alone. My teammates were with me. Obito and Rin..."

The little Uchiha listened attentively. Sure, it was always intersting to listen to such mission stories, but somehow he had no idea why Kakashi came up with it all of the sudden. He had told him many times exciting shinobi stories, which Sasuke didn´t knew if they were true or not, but never before his guardian had looked so serious and thoughtful. But since he had agreed to listen until the end, he said nothing.

"It was during the last war. Your learned about it in the academy, right?"

The boy nodded. The last war ended one year before he was born. His mother had used to say, he was a gift for the clan, because he was the first child born after all those terrible war years. At that time he could not imagine what war means, after the death of his family, he had at least an idea about it.

"Anyway, we were sent to this mission and my teammate Rin got kidnapped by the enemy... Obito wanted to save her no matter what and I eventually agreed. This is where I got these injury on my eye."

The silver haired was quit for a moment and Sasuke got more and more the feeling that Kakashi in reality not wanted to talk about it. The question was just why he did it then. Although only eight years old, Sasuke could understand very well that there were things a person could or would not talk about and he accepted it. There was no reason why Kakashi should force himself to tell him something he didn´t want to.

"What happened then?" He eventually asked, when the other male remained silent.

"We manged to free Rin but there were too many enemies and we couldn´t escape on time. We were surrounded by them. Obito sacrificed himself in order to save us... He entrusted his last wish to me and gave me a precious gift..."

"A precious gift?"

Kakashi nodded and for some reason avoided to look directly at. "His full name was Obito Uchiha..."

A gasp escaped his mouth and looked at the older man with wide eyes. "He was an Uchiha? But I don´t know anyone with this name and what do you mean he gave you a gift?"

"He died during the third shinobi war. You weren´t even born at that time..."

This explained a lot. His clan had been quite big and Sasuke had known only his closest relatives personally.

"His gift is the reason why I didn´t mentioned him earlier. I was afraid of your reaction..."

Suddenly, he felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach, when Kakashi continued to speak. He wasn´t referring to what he thought he was, was he?

Instead of saying more, the silver haired grabbed the back of his headband and pulled it up. Sasuke´s blood froze when he looked into the familiar red of his clan´s dojutsu.

"Sharingan..." He mumbled, but was like paralyzed by looking in that eye. So many emotions came up now. He saw everything clearly. His parents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Even their murder appeared with clarity before his eyes. While his brain was trying to process what Kakashi had just said, his eyes were fixed on the lone sharingan.

Alone the sight let him feel so many different emotions. The memories of his family, the fear and desperation of that night. He always dreamed about red eyes, but these dreams were nightmares. The sharingan was the heritage of his family, the pride of his clan, but since the massacre he always saw this murder before his eyes.

"Sasuke..." A gentle hand touched his shoulder and woke up from his shock, directly looking into Kakashi´s sympathetic face. The headband covered his eye again, but Sasuke could never forget the view of his family´s doujutsu.

"I know this is a shock for you but I hope you can understand it and my reasons for not telling you sooner."

"I... I don´t understand..." Sasuke said because he needed to say something.

"Do you understand what I told you? About my teammate?"

Suddenly, he remembered the story Kakashi told him just minutes ago. And the realization why he owned a sharingan, although he wasn´t an Uchiha, hit him. He understood that it wasn´t Kakashi´s fault for having this eye and accepting his friends last wish, but somehow the fact that the man had a sharingan transplanted let him feel uncomfortable

"Why didn´t you told me sooner?" The boy demanded, because there was nothing he could ask instead.

"Because I was somewhat afraid of your reaction. I know how important the sharingan for your clan is and many Uchihas used to resent me for having it."

"My parents too?" He asked lowly, feeling a sting in his heart.

"I´ve never interacted with them personally." The silver haired said calmy, not telling Sasuke that he had indeed interacted with his father some times. Since Fugaku Uchiha had been the clan head, Kakashi was forced to justify himself before him. But those endless ugly meetings weren´t the right thing for this eight years old boy to hear.

"I wonder what they thought about it..."

"Does it matter this much for you?"

"Of course it does!" The boy replied angrily. "The sharingan is my family´s kekkei genkkei! You should have told me sooner about it!" 

"Would it made a difference?" The older males voice sounded alomst sad. "When I decided to take you under my care, it was my main concern to earn your trust. I just wanted to make you feel better. I was afraid that the sharingan would remind you too much on your family and even afraid that you could mistust me."

Sasuke nodded hesitantly. While he could understand Kakashi´s reasons for doing so, it was still a shock. But of course he didn´t believe that his guardian withholded it out of malignity, probably more because he wanted to protect him. He was a smart child, bright enough to understand it, even if he still wished to know about his parent´s opinion.

"It made no difference. At least not regarding our relationship. But I don´t understand why you tell me yet... Since you wanted to keep it a secret all the time..."

"It shouldn´t stay a secret forever Sasuke. It should be the right time, when you´re ready to learn about it. It was never my intention to lie about it."

"But why do you think I´m ready yet?"

"Because of yesterdays events."

His little body immediately tensed. How much he wished to forget all this and now Kakashi brought it up again. But what had it to do with Kakashi´s hidden sharingan? He looked confused at the older man and obviously he understood Sasuke´s unspoken questions.

"Apparently, you awoke your sharingan yesterday."

For a brief moment, Sasuke wasn´t sure whether he heard wrong. Was Kakashi really saying he awoke his own sharingan? But when, how and where? He didn´t noticed anything and awaking the greatest doujutsu of the world should definitely be something you need to remember.

"But..."

Noting the child´s confusion, the jonin began to explain about the woman from Kumo and the difficult genjutsu she had been placed under. A genjutsu, so strong that the only possible explanation was, that a sharingan user was responsible for it. And Sasuke was the only one capable of possesing the Sharingan anymore. It worried Kakashi, especial since the council showed quite much interest in those fact, but as much as he wished to shield the boy for a while longer, he needed to discuss the issue with him.

"Does it mean I´ve my sharingan yet? But how can I activate it?" The raven haired Uchiha babbled, excitement clearly present in his voice.

"I think it appeared just out of shock yesterday and won´t manifest yet. You´re too young to master the sharingan" Kakashi said objectively.

"I´m not!" Sasuke protested, voice raising angrily. How could Kakashi say he was too young to master the sharingan, when the person who slaughtered his whole clan, was hardly older when mastering his own. "If my Sharingan appeared yesterday, I´m more than capable to master it. And I want to master it now!"

"Don´t be unreasonable. The sharingan isn´t some minor jutsu you can learn. It´s a kekkei genkkei which needs years of practice in order to gain control over it. I´ve never heard of an Uchiha who mastered the sharingan during his infancy." The adult explained, while hoping the boy would see reason.

"Of course there is someone who mastered the sharingan when in my age!" He jumped to his feet and yelled loudly, while angry tears appeared in his eyes. Sasuke couldn´t understand himself why he reacted so short tempered , but maybe the sight of Kakashi´s sharingan had really aroused him. "How can you say I can´t master it when this murder could it?! If he was able of doing it, I should it above all!"

"Sasuke..."

"NO!" He yelled back. "First you lied to me about your eye and now you tell me that I can´t master my sharingan although I awoke it! You´re just lying and make things worse!"

"Sasuke!"

"Why could he control the sharingan when in my age! Why could he do everything at my age?!" He didn´t cared that tears were streaming down his face now. He didn´t even knew why he was yelling and crying at the same time and from where came this outburst. But he couldn´t stop it.

"Calm down." Kakashi ordered firmly and placed his hand on Sasuke´s shoulder, but the boy stepped back.

"NO! He could do anything! And you tell me I can master it when I´m older, but why could he do it? When older he could kill our family, our parents? Why was he powerful enough to do it?!"

The Jonin stood up, stepping near to the boy. It was months now since Sasuke had the last time a outburst like that, but what worried more was the fact that anger was obviously more present than grief. He just knew the griefing side of Sasuke, this sudden anger was new and let him realize how wounded the child still was. Even after all the progress he made, every single connection with his dead clan let him break down.

"Sasuke listen to me." The man said and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders. "Don´t compare yourself ever again with that person. Do you understand me?"

But the Uchiha just shook his head and pulled himself free from Kakashi´s grip. "Then why was he strong enough to do all of this?! And why couldn´t I do anything to prevnt it? Everyone is dead and they won´t come back! Only because he can do anything what I can´t!"

"Nothing of what happened is your fault Sasuke!"

"It is! They are dead and won´t come back! Why did he do it?! I don´t understand it!" Sasuke was yelling and crying and the sight was heartbreaking. But for the first time Kakashi noticed something what hadn´t been there before; hate. And this hate was clearly seen into the boy´s eyes.

If he had known how the boy would react, he would have never told him about his sharingan. It had been a gift of his teammate and nothing to do with the Uchiha clan massacre, but for Sasuke it had been a too painful reminder. And it let Kakashi feel helpless.

"I´ll kill him!" Sasuke suddenly yelled and his expression was a mask of pain and hate. A expression which let the boy look years older. "You´ll see, I´ll kill him and let him pay for everything!"

"Sasuke calm down, please..." The adult tried again, this time feeling more helpless as he ever had before. "Let me help you please..."

But the child stepped back again. "I don´t want your help! I want my parents but they´re dead and they won´t come back!"

 _No they won´t,_ Kakashi thought sadly, while he heart ached painfully. Seeing Sasuke in this state let him suffer with him. He never expected that outburst, it got him completely off guard. It was a mistake from his side to asume Sasuke was better now. The massacre happened not even a year ago, was it a wonder this child was still traumatized? But this sudden anger and hate worried him. This thoughts weren´t healthy for such a young child, it couldn´t be healthy.

In his desperation, the Jonin tried to grab Sasuke, but he avoided his arms and stepped only more back.

"Please let me help you. Let´s talks Sasuke..."

Sasuke wasn´t even listening. The sudden rage came to it´s high point when he yelled with all his strength and stormed out of the room.

Kakashi stayed behind. Baffled and completely helpless for the first time.

 _I don´t need you or anyone else! I hate you all!_ The child had yelled. Only now he realized that Sasuke had left their apartment. The worry what could happen to the child in this state was present, but for some reason he couldn´t move himself from the spot.

 **Thanks to Pixie07 for the great review :D**

 **To this chapter, I know Sasuke´s outburst came a bit unexpected but it´s the time now for him to realize that Itachi is still alive and he slowly begins to think about justice. Also seeing Kakashi´s sharingan and being confronted with it let all these dark emotions came up and they will be some more serious chapters follow after this.**

 **Like always, let me know what you think and review ;)**


	22. Chapter 22

**A Decision to make**

It was raining. Kakashi wondered if the weather was always sympathize with his mood. But the bad weather came really inconvenient. Sasuke was still out and the last thing he wanted was for him to get sick because he got soaked in the rain. His green jonin vest protected him mostly from the streaming rain but his pullover and trouser were already wet. His hair sticked to his face and although he was tough he was shivering from the cold.

The temperatures became lower those days. The rain was a painful reminder on the promise he gave Itachi almost one year ago. Itachi who had slaughtered his whole clan some weeks later. Who had spared his little brother, an eight year old child whom he was responsible for now. On that day it had rained too.

He felt a knot in his throat when he realized that the anniversary of the massacre got closer and closer. It was hardly a full month until Sasuke was forced to face this hardship too. Honestly, Kakashi was clueless how the boy should pull through it. Since Sasuke already reacted to badly to his sharingan. How would he react to this then? He clenched his fist tightly, if he just hadn´t...

"This way. He is not far away."

His head shot up, eye firmly fixed on Pakkun. His little helper, who ran since hours through the rain in order to find the Uchiha. Tracking someone in the rain wasn´t easy for dogs, not even for ninja dogs, but Pakkun did a great job and followed ever not so single trace.

The streets were almost empty, no wonder by the weather. The rain seemed to become stronger with every passing minute. Those people who were still outside, weren´t paying attention to him. Most of them were in hurry to escape the streaming rain anyway.

His eye narrowed, when Pakkun leaded him out of the occupied streets to the edge of the village. He wondered why he wasn´t surprised that they were heading towards the old Uchiha district.

The once so living district was a ghost town now. Ghosts which would hunt Sasuke for the rest of his life and Kakashi found himself unable to do anything against it. He didn´t dare to look around. It still hurt to much and reminded him on the day he collected the corpses here. On some places was still blood, turned dries so that not even the rain could clean it. And it would never bother someone to do it anyway. The Uchiha district belonged to the past, a painful reminder of a tragedy nobody wants remember. Sooner or later, the Hokage would give the order destroy the empty residences. So would nothing stay left from the once proud and honorable clan. But they forgot one thing, unfortunately Sasuke was a living reminder of the Uchiha clan. Unfortunately, most people would rather forget.

At first he asumed Pakkun would bring him to Sasuke´s old deserted house, but to his surprise the little dog leaded him deeper into the district towards the large area of the Uchiha´s trainings area. Finally he spotted in the distance a lake, soon when they get closer, a familar raven haired head came into view. Sasuke was sitting on the bridge which crossed the water.

The Jonin stopped in his tracks, giving Pakkun a sign to stop as well. He observed the little boy for a long moment, before he got finally the guts to approach him. He allowed Pakkun to retreat, the dog had already helped him enough. Besides he needed to talk to Sasuke privately.

"Sasuke." He said calmy when he stood stood only some metres away from him. The rain was still pattering merciless down on them and he noticed how soaked the Uchiha already was.

At first the boy didn´t react but when Kakashi came near and was about to place a hand on his shoulder, Sasuke suddenly turned around and looked at him with wide reddened eyes. It was obvious that he had been crying.

"Don´t..." The eight year old began but didn´t continue to speak.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked softly. "It´s raining and you´ll catch a cold if you stay out here. Come let´s go home." He reached for Sasuke´s hand but the boy stepped back.

"This is not my home!" Sasuke protested and in his eyes flickered hate. "I want to stay here."

The helplessness he felt before returned with fully force by the boys behaviour. It wasn´t stubbornness or recalcitrance, rather he had the impression that the child was confused. As if the sight of his sharingan had set off another trauma. Kakashi could only blame himself for it. Sasuke had been on a good way and it seemed the sight of the sharingan had destroyed everything again. Observing the Uchiha´s small and drenched form, he knew he had to bring the boy home immediately. It would be a miracle if the child wouldn´t become sick after spending so much time out here and he would rather not take that risk. But how was he supposed to convince the bewildered boy to come with him?

He kneeled down in front of him and holded his shoulders, despite the childs effort to step away. "I was worried about you Sasuke."

Sasuke blinked several times, where Kakashi wasn´t sure whether he wanted to get rid of present tears or the rain drops, which were flowing countlessly over his face.

"I want to stay here..."

"But you´ll become sick..."

"I don´t care!" The child interrupted. "This is my home! I´m supposed to live here... Together with my family.. But..."

Slowly, the silver haired couldn´t deny any longer how emotional confused Sasuke was. He wasn´t even sure if the child could understand him fully or realized what he wanted from him. Maybe he should just force him to go back, casting a genjutsu on him or something like that, but was this really the right way? Kakashi doubted it. Especial after the disaster he caused with showing him his sharingan. But if he was honest, he had not noticed how traumatized he still was and it let him feel even more guilty.

"I know you want to stay here and I promise you, we can return here as often you want. But for now you need to come with me." He said calmy, praying that the boy would comply.

"I can´t." Sasuke shook his head. "I need to stay here and wait for my parents. They´ll pick me up soon."

Kakashi´s visible eye widened and he let go of the boy´s shoulders. He could hardly believe what the kid said. And he realized how mentally confused he really was. Obviously Sasuke the sight of his Sharingan had placed him under some sort of shock.

"Sasuke..." He tried again, unsure what to do next. "You know that your parents can´t come..."

"They will come..."

"No Sasuke. They can´t come."

The boy shook his head again. "It was just a dream. I think it´s just a dream... They are not dead! My clan is strong, nobody can kill them!"

"You know it wasn´t just a dream. It´s terrible but your clan isn´t here anymore. I know it´s aweful but you need to accept i..."

"Stop lying!" Sasuke yelled and stepped back. His face was a pained mask, but Kakashi couldn´t tell if he was crying because of all the rain. Tears wouldn´t stand out, since the boy´s face was already wet. "Go away! I don´t want you to stay here!" 

"I can´t do that. Please come with me yet. You need rest..."

"NO!"

He tried to reach for him once again, but Sasuke just stepped away and he became more and more desperate. Even a blind could tell that the child wasn´t completely muddled and he didn´t knew how to deal with it. He was not even sure whether Sasuke still remembered him or knew that he was living under his care. The boy was totally beside himself.

He didn´t like it, but did the only thing he could think of to get Sasuke home as fast as possible. Making sure the kid was looking at him, he formed swiftly two handsigns and put him under a light genjutsu which let him fall asleep immediately. Kakashi caught him, when Sasuke fell forward and wasted no time and picked him up.

It was the same situation like almost one year ago, where he had put Sasuke for the first time under a genjutsu. He had thought the boy was better since then, but obviously he had been wrong. His heart felt heavy when he hurried out of the Uchiha district. If he was honest, he was not sure what he should do now. He just wanted to help Sasuke so badly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...

As if the day hadn´t been filled with tragic events enough, became the night even more difficult when Sasuke awoke from the genjutsu, burning with fever. Kakashi´s first thought was that the kid had indeed caught a cold out in the rain, but after giving him medicine and the fever wasn´t falling, he grew worried. He sent Pakkun to bring Shizune here, because he was not sure what to do. Since the weather was still bad outdoors, he didn´t wanted to carry the boy to the hospital. Luckily, only fourty minutes later Shizune stood before his door.

Kakashi observed how she sat on the edge of the bed and examined the sleeping Sasuke. The kid was so exhausted that he couldn´t even afford to keep his eyes open. His cheeks were flushed in a deep red and his body was sweating and shivering at the same time.

After a while she pulled out a bottle from her bag and instilled a measured amount of the brownish looking liquid in Sasuke´s mouth. After that she beds his head carefully back on the pillow. The eight year old fell back asleep in an instant.

"How is he?" Kakashi asked tensely.

"The fever is alarming but I gave him something against it. But he isn´t with a cold. I asume the fever is physically reaction of extreme emotional stress."

He sighed and turned to the window and looked into the dark night. The rain was still streaming, additionally was a strong storm present. The weather was fitting greatly to his current mood.

"Did something happen?" Shizune asked, standing only some inches behind him.

"I thought he is better..." He said after a long moment. "But I was wrong..."

"That is not true. He is better. Everyone can see it." The woman said softly.

"No..." Kakashi shook his head. "After the latest incident I talked to him about the Sharingan. And I revealed to him that I´ve one too..."

"Oh..."

"You think I shouldn´t have told him." He said after her lack of response.

"I really don´t know it Kakashi."

"He seemed so much better but now he is worse than before. He was more confused than after the massacre. He even thought his clan was still alive... or about revenge, how he wished to kill Itachi..."

"Extreme mental stress can trigger such symptoms. I´ve seen this often after the last war, especial by children. I asume the revelation of your sharingan put him under shock. We don´t know what he witnessed in that night and the trauma he suffered can break open everytime. His mental wounds are still open."

"What I´m supposed to do then?" The copy ninja turned around and looked at her with despair in his eye. He had worked so hard to help Sasuke to overcome the pain but it seemed not matter what he did, there would always be a rebound.

"I´m not a phychologist but he needs to heal mentally. Otherwise the massacre will scare him for life. You should let a Yamanake have a look on him. If you want I can speak with Inoichi that he would take time for Sasuke. He is very sensitive with children."

"You want them to spy Sasuke´s mind? You can´t seriously expect me to agree to this?!" 

"Kakashi, I know how you feel but you can´t ignore the fact how much the massacre had destroyed in Sasuke. He needs to recondition what happened. And he can´t do it alone. Sasuke will not talk about it from alone and he needs help from people who are fit for that task. Inoichi had cared for countless children after the last war, I´m sure he can offer Sasuke some help too. You should give it at least a try."

"Sasuke will not agree to this. He is already reserved about the massacre, I don´t want to force him to open up." The Jonin protested.

Shizune shook her head, looking at him with a serious expression. "He is still so young Kakashi. And I´m sure he can´t fully understand what happened to his clan yet. That´s why he can´t overcome this trauma. But you´re his guardian. It´s your role to help him to become better and even if I admire you for taking care of him, for everything you´ve done so far, it´s not enough. He needs help or he´ll never overcome this. Now he is a child but what will become of him when he grows older? A revenge obsessed person, who will throw away his entire life only to get justice no matter the costs? Or a emotional wreck, who will never be able to stand a chance in this world or form new strong bonds because he can´t let go of the past?! Think of it Kakashi and tell if this is what you want for him."

There was a long moment of silence after this. Kakashi was thinking about Shizune´s words and he had to admit that she was right in many perspectives. He looked at her than at the sleeping child again and he made up his mind.

"Please make a appointment with Inoichi. We´ll meet with him as soon Sasuke feels better."

Shizune smiled at him. "This is the right decision, you´ll see."

"I hope so..." He really did.

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 **Hi, thanks for the recent reviews from fanofthisfiction and Guest. It´s nice that still someone is following along this story. I haven´t updated for so long because life has become very busy for me. I´m still writing now and then in my freetime and hope I´ll finish this story someday :)**

 **Please let me know what you think and review ;)**


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